Brand Contact

A Rose Is a Rose Is a Brand

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Hydzik) — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 00:49:00 +0000

Crain's Chicago Business has an interesting video report, Rose in Bloom, on Chicago Bulls star Derrick Rose and his potential as a brand.

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Paul Hydzik grows brand value. As a brand marketer and award-winning creative leader, Paul has more than 15 years of experience driving business success from start-ups to blue chips. His strategic resume covers all aspects of B2B and B2C branding from go-to-market to consumer insight to identity development and all forms of marketing communication.

Obstacles Are Only In Your Mind

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Hydzik) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:58:00 +0000

Boundaries...Walls...Fences...Small budgets...Short time lines...Personal limits...Insane bosses...Tough clients...Wacky agencies...Impossible challenges.

They're all in your mind.

Our previous two posts (Brainstorming Part I and Part II) talked about how to free your mind and break through to never-been-done-before solutions. In that same spirit, free your mind visually with this amazing Danny MacAskill video.

Be inspired and achieve the impossible. Go over. Go around. Go through. Fix the problem. Be in harmony with. Break the rules. Try another way. Try and try again. Do or do not. And let me know if you'll ever look at a fence the same way again.

Video: ©2009 Danny MacAskill.
Blog: ©2009 Paul J. Hydzik. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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Paul Hydzik grows brand value. As a brand marketer and award-winning creative leader, Paul has more than 15 years of experience driving business success from start-ups to blue chips. His strategic resume covers all aspects of B2B and B2C branding from go-to-market to consumer insight to identity development and all forms of marketing communication.

Brainstorming—Part II: Making it Go

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Hydzik) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 18:54:00 +0000

Techniques that work and what to do with all those ideas you generate.

In our previous installment, “A Dozen Reasons Your Brainstorm Sessions Don’t Work,” we examined the why most of us, at one time or another, are disappointed by the results of our brainstorming. We covered everything from problem definition to ground rules and expectations to who, when and how.

In Part II, we’re going to look at some proven techniques. Interestingly, in their own way, each automatically solves many of the key brainstorming issues—as well as produces loads of ideas. Then we’ll quickly look at how you turn these ideas into incredible, creative solutions.

With a nod to the Nike, “Just Do It” tagline, brainstorming is simpler if you follow these suggestions.

Do it Fast!

Speed is very freeing. Recall from our earlier installment that judging early creates fear of failure and stifles creativity. When you work fast, you don’t have time to judge ideas as they develop. Just write them down and move on. So you keep fear of failure and negativity out of the picture long enough to get fresh thoughts on the table.

You also generate loads of ideas. That’s good because in brainstorming, more is better. You get the law of averages on your side. The more ideas, the better your chance of having a stunner in the bunch.

How fast is fast? How about 20 ideas in five minutes?

That’s a new idea every 15 seconds. Can’t be done, right? Wrong. My brainstorm teams do it again and again. In the space of an hour, with multiple small groups, they routinely develop several hundred ideas! Much to their delight and surprise, I might add.

Do it Again!

Your team has just come up with 20 or more ideas. Give them a moment to be proud of themselves. More than likely they never believed it could be done in the first place. So let them bask in the glory for a bit. Then ask them to select their two or three favorites and share why they think they’re the best. Discuss how they turned something on its ear and broke rules.

Now have them mentally “toss them out!” The whole 20. And brainstorm again. (See why stopping at the first good idea is a big problem in our first installment.) Before any complaints can begin, prod your team, “Twenty MORE ideas. Five minutes. Go, go go!”

Generally, the first round or two gets the expected solutions out of the way. The best stuff usually—but not always—comes later.

Do it Wrong!

It’s tough to come up with brilliant, breakthrough ideas and solve tough problems. The very thought is intimidating. But one thing we all know how to do is to do things wrong. To make mistakes.

Use this to your advantage. Have your brainstorm team, “Do it Wrong” and come up with awful, simply terrible, ideas. It’s fun to see who can come up with the absolute worst and watch what happens. Suddenly there’s no pressure to be brilliant and generating ideas is easy and fun. Immediately your team is loose. In a happy place. And productive!

Once you’ve gotten the worst down on paper, make a U-Turn. Have the team select favorites and turn those ideas around—into great ideas.

Do it Weird!

Pick a color or an object. Any color. Or any object. When you need a new idea, get away from anything remotely familiar and start someplace entirely new. The weirder, the better. New places allow you to make brand new connections. You have no expectations or preconceived limits on where your thoughts can take you.

For example, let’s say your group picks the color red. Have them make a list of everything red. A red rubber ball. Lipstick. Stop light. Red door. Bullseye. Fire truck and fire hydrant. A red and white striped barber pole. Raspberries and apples. Early morning airline travel on the “red eye.” Visine (speaking of red eye!). Red Rover Red Rover.

Use your “red” list to make connections with and trigger solutions to your problem. Will this work? You bet. Because the best thing about “weird,” it puts everyone off their guard. They’re in a strange new place where bold new thoughts are welcome.

Do it with a Genius!

Ask your team, “How would Albert Einstein solve this problem?” Or Marie Curie? Or Igor Stravinsky? Or Pablo Picasso? Each of these incredible minds brought a new approach to the world in a different field and by a different means. Through imagination. Through insight and perseverance. Through expressive rhythm. Through the fracture of representational rendering.

Part of the reason you and your team feel like you can’t solve the problem is that you don’t expect to have the answer. You haven’t had it before, so why should you have it now? Step outside yourself and turn to a genius for your solutions.

More helpful hints

Be obvious. Consider this option—especially when you’re dealing with people who have loads of expertise. First thing you do before you really begin brainstorming, invite your teams write down every solution they already know. Gets the known stuff out of everyone’s systems quickly. Then at last, you can prepare for fresh thinking.

PostIt! Have your teams write each idea on its own little sticky note. Use separate colors for each team, if you like. Post them on the wall or a big sheet where everyone can see them. Why separate notes for each? So you can easily combine them and build on them, and organize and categorize them later.

Compete. At the start, announce a little friendly competition between teams to get the adrenaline flowing. This is another reason I like brainstorming with small teams of three to five people. See which team can come up with the most ideas. The worst ideas. The weirdest ideas. The least ideas. Give awards. Dinner. Theater tickets. Give the losers an incentive, too. Like buying coffee for the winners.

Treat yourselves well. Bring coffee and healthy snacks. Tell folks to dress comfortably. Take shoes off. (OK, maybe. Maybe not. I don’t know your group!) Get away from the desk and get rid of the conference table. They’re too formal. Gather your chairs into small clusters, one for each group. Play music or otherwise stimulate your team’s creativity. See our earlier posts, “Want to be more creative? Be less comfortable.” and “Be more creative…do something different.” for more ideas.

Embrace failure. Am I saying I want your brainstorming effort to fail. No. What I want you to do is to create an environment in which it’s OK to fail at least some of the time. An environment where risk is rewarded. Think about it. All the world’s greatest talents and minds fail. Sometimes often. The best hitters in Major League Baseball fail in more than two out of three at bats. They risk swinging big and their coach wants them to swing big! The coach knows a big home run hitter is going to strike out…a lot. But when they connect, it’s out of the park. And that’s what you’re looking for isn’t it? To hit one out of the park.

"Would you like me to give you a formula for... success? It's quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure. You're thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn't at all... you can be discouraged by failure—or you can learn from it. So go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because, remember that's where you'll find success. On the far side."

--Thomas J. Watson, Founder of IBM

Now that you’ve got tons of ideas. Now what?

Before you wrap up your brainstorm sessions, you might have hundreds of ideas. All in random order. It can feel like a real mess. How do you take all these “baby ideas” and nurture them into mature concepts that can stand critical scrutiny.

Combine and categorize. Work with your teams to separate ideas into three to five clear categories. Here’s where having each concept on an individual PostIt! really helps. If you find some of the ideas defy categorization. Don’t force it. Free-floaters are often good bridges and connectors. Combine them with other strong ideas. By looking at categories you also identify areas that were not well covered during the initial brainstorming session—or an important area that was missed entirely. Categories can also help you make a strategic link back to your objectives so you can check to see that you’re on target.

Pick leaders. Have your teams vote on the strongest ideas in each category. Talk about why they’re so strong. See what common threads exist among the leading ideas. And what’s different. What about the ideas that don’t come out on top? Aren’t they a waste? Absolutely not. Those ideas are part of the process and help springboard people to make new connections and more novel ideas.

Improve and strengthen. Brainstorming is more of a process than an event. You’re trying to do something, create something or solve something that’s never been done before. Game changing ideas are worth the investment in effort and a little more time. You haven’t failed because the first brainstorm session didn’t produce a final product. What you’ve done is set the stage for success. Take a break and plan Round 2. Use the categories, leaders and common threads to direct your next session.

Empower the team to finish the ideas. Too often I’ve seen the leaders of brainstorm sessions take the ideas away from the team and either develop them by themselves or to hand them to others. That’s really demoralizing to the team because it sends the message that they’re not good enough to pull the ideas through. So resist that temptation. Empower the team to grow the ideas themselves—and make them responsible for hitting the target.

Trying other things

Picasso once said, “God is really only another artist. He invented the giraffe, the elephant and the cat. He has no real style, He just goes on trying other things.” Good advice for brainstorming. If you want new solutions you’ve got to try other things. Give some of the suggestions from Brainstorming Part I and II a try and turn disappointment into amazement.

Art: Pablo Picasso, “Landscape with Bridge” 1909 from Artchive, “Portrait of Stravinsky” from the Internet Public Library, “Les Echecs” 1911 from Online Picasso Project.

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Paul Hydzik grows brand value. As a brand marketer and award-winning creative leader, Paul has more than 15 years of experience driving business success from start-ups to blue chips. His strategic resume covers all aspects of B2B and B2C branding from go-to-market to consumer insight to identity development and all forms of marketing communication.

A Dozen Reasons Your Brainstorm Sessions Don’t Work

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Hydzik) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 22:30:00 +0000

At one time or another, you’ve been disappointed by the results of a brainstorm session. We all have. The problem is, what to do about it.

Perhaps you feel that you’ve just never been great at inspiration. Or you don’t feel like your team is all that creative. Perhaps you blame the idea of brainstorming itself. (That’s right, blame the tool. It’s the hammer’s fault you bashed your thumb!)

Brainstorming is a process and a skill and there are some common reasons it may not be working for you. Every time. See if these thoughts don’t break you and your team out of your rut.

1. It’s a problem of “problem definition.”

The first key, if you want better results, is to define your problem better. Too often, teams rush into a brainstorm session without adequate strategic thought. “Quick, the client needs a solution by 3:00” is a recipe for disappointment!

The best solutions are the result of asking the best questions.

Quiz yourself: Are you just after an incremental gain—or do you want to break through and change the rules of the game? If you answer with the latter, then you’re heading the right direction. Go deep. Wide. And long.

Brainstorming is not about small ideas. It’s about generating great, big, bold, scary new ideas. Stuff that’s never been done before. And the better you define the problem, the better you’ll brainstorm the big ideas you need to create fresh new solutions.

2. Forgetting the ground rules.

When you’re trying to break the mold it may seem counterintuitive that you need ground rules. But you do. Try these:

Define the problem and set objectives.
Give everyone a brief background to digest beforehand to prime the mind.
Loosen everyone up and engage them with the subject at the start. Say, you’re brainstorming a new chair design. Have your team spend the first minutes talking about chairs. What they like. What they hate. Cool chairs. Boring chairs. Do something fun. Suspend a chair from the ceiling. Have a chair race. If folks are smiling and laughing and freely talking about the subject, you’ve done it just right.
Leave titles at the door. Everyone is equal in a brainstorm session and no one is more expert than another. This goes for the facilitator, as well. The facilitator is there to keep the ideas flowing. Not to be a subject matter expert.
Absolutely no judgment or criticism of ideas during the session (If you can have only one rule. This is it!).
Building on others’ ideas is encouraged. Highly!
Set a time limit.

3. The wrong people. Or too many of ‘em.

All kinds of people can be surprisingly and extraordinarily creative when you manage your brainstorm session right. But someone who cannot set aside negative or judgmental feelings will hurt your progress. If you find yourself with someone who continually tramples ideas, make sure they know the ground rules. And if they still don’t get it, politely un-invite them. They’re not helping you.

So who do you invite? Invite a mix of good thinkers, people you trust to be enthused by the subject matter and people outside your normal sphere of influence. It’s good to create a new mix. People who don’t all know one another or what to expect.

What’s a good, productive number of people with which to brainstorm?

A small handful. Three to five, highly active and energized participants. That’s all you need. Too many people is actually worse than too few.

I recall being invited by the leader of separate client group to a brainstorm session for a new product launch. When I walked in the door there were already more than a dozen people. After a few minutes the brainstorm group mounted up to a total of 35 people. What happened? Fewer than 10 of those people became active contributors. The rest hung back. Not because they didn’t have ideas. I knew many of these people to be strong concept people. No, they hung back because they could. It’s easy to hide or to think others have better ideas when a group is too large. The result: Time wasted. Brain power misplaced. Potentially great ideas lost.

Got more people? Break them into teams. Have them cluster in different spots in the room. Or hold separate sessions with each group. Use them to expand the territory instead of covering the same ground over and over. Use them to build on ideas.

4. The wrong time.

Brainstorming is a high energy activity. So hold them when people have the greatest energy. Not right after lunch or at the end of the day when energy is low.

Keep your brainstorm sessions rather short, too. Think of brainstorming like running a sprint. Or a series of sprints. You want loads of energy and speed right off the gun. But you can’t run at sprint speed for a marathon brainstorm session.

5. The wrong energy.

Negative energy absolutely withers participation and kills ideas. Brainstorm sessions should be relaxed and fun. Like game play. It’s hard to downplay the significance of one negative apple in a brainstorming bunch.

So be positive or go home. Build on ideas or leave them alone.

6. Forgetting to forget what you know.

You’re trying to discover new ideas and breakthrough solutions in a brainstorm. What you know—old ideas, old ways and old solutions—get in the way. So invite all the subject matter experts you like. Just be sure they know the ground rules. No experts! And no, “You can’t do that because…” kind of thinking.

This can be deceptively difficult to do.

Pablo Picasso once said, “It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.”

If you’re going to blaze an entirely new trail, you need to free yourselves of what you know. Forget budgets. Forget time constraints. Forget what’s possible. What you’re shooting for is the “impossible.” Don’t let reality get in the way. There’ll be plenty of time for that later.

7. Too few ideas.

Quantity rules! The more ideas, the better. The more unusual or contradictory an idea, the better. Make waves. Encourage wild ideas. Don’t worry about “bad” ideas. Remember no ideas are bad ideas during a brainstorm session. In fact, any idea can be a springboard that gets someone to make a connection to a concept that leads another person to leap ahead to THE big idea.

Striving for quantity also helps focus the team on generating and building ideas—the task at hand—rather than criticizing them. Which keeps everything positive and growing.

8. Judging early.

Criticism makes people hesitant to share their ideas. Think about it. If someone continually knocks your thoughts, how do you feel?

You feel fearful.

You worry that you're going to be criticized. That your ideas don't measure up. So how inclined are you to share new ideas? The simple answer is less. And that's not what we want. We want more. Bigger. Wilder. Better.

There’s a time for judgment. It’s after the brainstorm. Not during! Ever.

9. Being too restrictive.

Another form of judging early. If you narrow your range down, you’ll narrow down your solution set. Brainstorming is not the time to be focused and narrow. It’s a time to be open and receptive.

10. The wrong expectation.

Brainstorm ideas are not finished works. They’re fresh, green, immature.

Someone once suggested that we should think of brainstorm ideas as baby ideas. I love this analogy because you don’t expect the same things from a baby that you do from an adult. Of course, not. You nurture a baby. Foster it and help it to thrive and grow. And so you should with brainstorm ideas. Don’t expect baby ideas to stand up to adult scrutiny. Remember, it’s not good to judge early. Get out there are feed those baby ideas.

11. Stealing the joy of birthing a great, big idea from the team that birthed it.

Two kinds of thievery exist, here. Glory hounds. And Control Freaks.

Brainstorming is a social act of generosity. Once someone develops a glory hound reputation, their teams know it. And suddenly that team becomes cautious with their ideas. Why share your best thoughts when you know so-and-so is going to “steal your idea” and take credit for it? Great brainstormers are not in it for the personal glory.

Control freaks are just as damaging.

They like to take the brainstorm ideas from the team and then go back to their little cube and “work it out.” Here’s a better suggestion. Why not have the team that develops an idea push it further? More about how in our next installment.

12. Stopping at the first good idea when what you need is a great idea.

Good is just plain dangerous. Because it can prevent you from reaching for a great idea.

So try this. Once you’ve generated a bunch of ideas. Throw them out. That’s right. Toss ‘em aside and have the team continue to brainstorm. Tell them there’s good stuff in here, but we’re working for great! Again and again, the best ideas come after everyone gets the initial thoughts out of their system. The first thoughts are usually the expected things. The ones closest to what you know. The ones you may have heard of before. The ones still in charted waters.

So push for greatness. Especially when you have a good idea in hand.

Check back for our next installment, Brainstorming-Part II: Making it Go where we’ll pick up with brainstorming techniques that work and what to do with all those ideas you came up with.

Artwork: Pablo Picasso, Still Life with Guitar, 1922. Oil on canvas. Galerie Rosengart, Lucerne, Switzerland, from Olga's Gallery. Picasso Factory at Horta de Ebro 1909. Drawing, Femme.

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Kodak’s Bold Print and Prosper Campaign

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Hydzik) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 18:37:00 +0000

Will it reposition the brand to compete in a digital world?

Quick, what are the biggest not-so-well-kept secrets about inkjet printers? C’mon, you know. Everyone knows!

Printers are economical. Ink is expensive.

Many of us spend more on ink in a year than we do on our printers and Kodak is out to change all that for people who love to print a lot.

On March 29, Kodak launched, “Print and Prosper,” a new integrated marketing campaign behind its newest All-in-One inkjet printers. The campaign stakes claim to a bold, value-oriented position that plays well in these economic times:

Switch to Kodak All-in-One inkjet printers and, “Stop overpaying for ink.”

Fully integrated campaign

Kodak reaches out to consumers on television, through a custom online application, social networking sites, bloggers and Twitter followers. In-store execution so far appears missing and, though a Kodak spokesperson declined to comment, it will be interesting to see if the campaign travels in-store.

This campaign is a bold departure from the warm-and-fuzzy Kodak Moments of the past.

TV advertising exclaims, "Drip by drip your wallet is being drained every time you hit "print" on your inkjet printer. Last year America paid the big printer companies $5 billion too much for ink. Feeling ripped off? Then stop overpaying for ink.... Switch to a Kodak printer that only uses fairly priced ink."

In print, Kodak suggests, “The world's most expensive liquid isn't found in the Middle East. It's found in your inkjet printer cartridges….Switch to Kodak and stop overpaying for ink.” Other ads lead with, “Last Year, America Paid $5 Billion Too Much for Inkjet Printer Ink.” And, “There is a $5 Billion Stain on the U.S. Economy and it’s Coming from Your Printer.”

Each of the executions directs consumers to an online application, “Find out how much you overpay for ink at Kodak printandprosper.com.”

Where does this disruptive new Kodak spirit come from?

A brand that needs to strategically reinvent itself

Kodak, a company still affectionately known for the warmth of its film-based legacy, needs to shake things up if it’s to succeed in a digital world.

“Resuscitating the Kodak brand won't be easy. In 2001, Kodak was ranked the 27th-most-valuable brand in the world, according to Omnicom’s Interbrand. Last year, it fell off Interbrand's closely followed list of the top 100 global brands.” according to a Wall Street Journal article by Suzanne Vranica March 30, 2009.

Worse, Kodak, once the world’s giant in film-based image making, is far behind the digital market share leaders. “HP (Hewlett-Packard) owns the printer ink and printer toner market. With greater than 45% market share, nearly every printer manufacturer is gunning for HP.” according to ConcordSupplies blog, March 13, 2008.

Disruption built on consumer insight

Printer ink is priced like razors and razor blades, where the handles are loss leaders and blades are the high-margin money makers. A Nov. 19, 2007 study, “Inkjet Prices, Printing Costs and Consumer Welfare” Larry F. Darby and Stephen B. Pociask, published by the non-profit American Consumer Institute Center for Citizen Research, states.

“Inkjet printers are priced with little or no margin and, according to some authorities, well below cost in many cases….In turn, inkjet printer ink cartridges are priced inordinately high in most cases, as a means to compensate for low or negative printer margins, consistent with the well-known razor/razor blade model, wherein the durable assets (razors or printers) are sold below cost and “consumables” (blades or ink) are marked up substantially.”

Kodak Public Relations Manager, Jacqueline Mangione states that, “According to Kodak’s research, the top consumer dissatisfier when it comes to printing has been the high cost of ink.”

Saving money on operating costs—namely high margin ink cartridges—plays off consumer insight that’s been as obvious as it’s been avoided, like a sacred cash cow, by the industry. That’s part of the wisdom behind Kodak’s boldness. Because everyone knows the “secret,” it instantly connects with the target, heavy printers.

The campaign addresses a real consumer issue—and aims to put Kodak All-in-Ones into consumers’ considered set where it lags behind competitors from Brother, Canon, Epson, HP and Lexmark.

Driven from the top

If you want to know a company’s strategic direction, look to see what the boss is saying.

Kodak Chairman and CEO, Antonio M. Perez, who joined the company 2003, is “leading the worldwide transformation of Kodak from a business based on film to one based primarily on digital technologies,” according to his Kodak bio. “In the past four years, Kodak introduced an array of disruptive new digital technologies [author’s emphasis].”

In a Bloomberg Press interview with Meg Tirrell, Perez, who spent 25 years at Hewlett-Packard helping develop its printers, “pegged the devices as one of Kodak’s three ‘core investments.’” They’re that important.

In that same Bloomberg Press reference, Jeffrey Hayzlett, Kodak Chief Marketing Officer and Vice President, connects the campaign with the company’s founder. “George Eastman wanted to make photography affordable for everyone….Now we’re trying to make printing affordable for everyone.”

“Paying too much for printer ink is a financial black hole that consumers can easily avoid.” adds Hayzlett in a March 30 Kodak press release.

Heavily supported by social media

Kodak incorporated social media as an integral part of its campaign, holding a live and virtual blogger event in New York city, March 29.

According to Kodak Chief Blogger, Jenny Cisney, “Using social media is about going where the people are, not making them come to you. If they are on blogs, Twitter or Facebook, then that is where we need to be. It’s all about being helpful, finding out what people need and providing value.”

The event, centered around household money saving tips from noted personal finance journalist and author of “Money & Happiness,” Laura Rowley. According to Cisney, Kodak, “directly reached the more than 20 participants, and 30 additional people via Twitter during the event.” Participants also learned from Rowley about how Kodak All-in-One printers can help consumers save on ink costs.

At the time this posting is being written, Social Mention counts nearly 60 blog mentions. And Twitter Search racks up 557 mentions over the days since the campaign broke. The Kodak “Dripping” commercial has been viewed over 500 times on YouTube. Strong social performance.

Certainly strong enough to put Kodak Print and Prosper on the radar screen of inkjet market leader HP.

Angela LoSasso, U.S. Social Media Manager, HP’s Imaging and Printing Group (http://twitter.com/AngelaAtHP) has been listening and writing for HP since Dec. 2006. She personally contacted this author (who tweets at http://twitter.com/BrandMarketer) and, “a few people who had expressed interest in learning more about Kodak’s cost of ink claims. Because we saw similar claims back in 2007 and because those claims were reviewed by independent, qualified and credible sources, I felt that information was contextual and valuable to bloggers, media and shoppers alike.”

LoSasso’s reactions are captured on the HP Communities Inkjet Printing Blog.

Will boldness deliver results

“This is a big, bold idea that doesn’t tiptoe around the issue and lets consumers know Kodak is on their side,” said Linda Sawyer, Chief Executive Officer, Deutsch Inc. “Kodak has a longstanding, deep and emotional relationship with consumers and, by exposing this issue, that relationship will only become stronger.” tells a Kodak press release.

Boldness has a dark side, and can sometimes create a backlash. It also has a time limit.

Print and Prosper will have to show results if it’s to portend a brighter future for Kodak. One thing is certain. Transforming a company with a film-based legacy into a digital realty does not call for baby steps. As a result, it appears strategically essential for Kodak to be bold.

Marketplace reaction

AdWeek awarded the television commercial a creative Ad-of-the-Day mention. But not everyone at AdWeek agrees about the campaign. In “Kodak Goes Negative,” columnist, Barbara Lippert asks, “How can [Kodak] just drop all that equity by selling ink at half price?" Of course, once you’ve fallen off Interbrand’s Top 100 brand’s list, you have to wonder just how much equity is there—and start selling printers.

Ultimately, the number one success metric is sales

Hayzlett demonstrates Kodak’s sales-driven focus as he steps away from the warm-and-fuzzy approach that once typified the company. "We have to have ads that drive sales," he says in a March 30 WSJ article.

I agree.

Kodak has to create a new brand. Holding tight to the past will not turn Kodak digital. I also believe over time, should Kodak succeed with its daring digital rebranding, it will be able to reconnect with its warm heart. Then, lookout. What do you think?

All images, identity, logos, © their respective owners.

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Why Every Social Media Marketer Should Read “The Anatomy of Buzz Revisited”

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Hydzik) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 15:32:00 +0000

“We talk because we are programmed to talk.”*

Before we coined the phrase, social media marketing. Before the tools (MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter) that we now take for granted were even available. There was word-of-mouth marketing—Buzz! For me, one man put buzz on the map and set the stage for today’s booming social scene. Emanuel Rosen.

Rosen first wrote about the importance of brand relationships and using person-to-person conversations to successfully market products in his book, “The Anatomy of Buzz: How to Create Word-of-Mouth Marketing,” published in 2000.

The original has been a staple of my reference library since it went into print. The strategies it describes help explain why customer relationships matter. They tell how cultivating conversations creates relationships that build business. The book inspired the development of innumerable concepts and client presentations. And it formed an important foundation for a graduate-level marketing communications class I teach.

Nine years later, Rosen is back with his new book, and a dramatic update, “The Anatomy of Buzz Revisited: Real-life Lessons in Word-of-Mouth Marketing.” Today, he kicks off a buzz-inspired book signing tour here in Chicago. (More on that later.)

“Real-life Lessons” takes buzz beyond the original

More original buzz thinking. Even if you have the first edition, the new edition brings so much new thinking and material, you’ll want the update. According to the intro, 12 of the book’s 24 chapters are entirely new.
Real-life examples bring buzz to life. Everything from the buzz created when the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile comes to town (they were in a parade in St. Petersburg, FL yesterday according to their Twitter account)…to the reason why Jimmy Carter’s boyhood home was a place many Great Depression-era visitors would stop and ask for food or a drink of water…to the always popular “Will it Blend (Have you seen the bailout blended yet?).”
Why not to fear negative comments. Rosen cites a Kingston University in London study that finds 30% of the negative word of mouth was about brands that had never been owned by the people who talked about them. Then tells what you can do about them.
Broadening of buzz include visual conversations. Now that we all have access to inexpensive tools like camera phones, the Flip Video camera and visual media like, Skype, YouTube, our conversations have incorporated pictures and video.
The importance of hubs. Find out the key distinction between an evangelist and a hub. And why calling one of Microsoft’s 4,000 MVPs an evangelist is a no-no. Hint: hubs “gain status not from their source of information but from the people who listen to them.”
Buzz measured. When the original release hit the streets, the thinking was that Buzz was so ephemeral, that it couldn’t be accurately measured. Now we know differently.
Answers the question, “Can you live on buzz alone?” While there are some who believe that advertising is dead and doesn’t matter anymore, Rosen says, “The truth is that very few products can live on buzz alone.”
Buzz workshop. Possibly one of the most valuable chapters, once you understand how and where Buzz works, is the last, which Rosen calls his “Buzz Workshop.” Here, he provides a series of questions designed to help you think about how buzz fits with the products or services you’re marketing. And it starts by asking whether the products or services you’re offering will impress your customers.

Follow the buzz tour

Touring the U.S. in support of his new book, Rosen could do no less than dramatically use word-of-mouth—teaming up with the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) and their environmentally-friendly, veggie oil-powered bus to spread the news.

How well does this buzz thing work for Rosen? Well, buzz is how I found out about Rosen’s new book. How I found out about his book tour. And how I worked with the Illinois Institute of Technology Stuart School of Business, where I teach, to bring him there to visit with students and fellow faculty. (Am I on my road to becoming a hub?)

I’ll be joining Rosen as he continues his Chicago leg tomorrow at Loyola University and IIT Stuart. Follow him yourself and share the social media marketing buzz.

*Emanuel Rosen, The Anatomy of Buzz Revisited: Real-life Lessons in Word-of-Mouth Marketing p70.

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Understanding Influence - Part II: Seven Beliefs

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Hydzik) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 22:23:00 +0000

Yesterday we blogged that social media has fundamentally changed the world of marketing. Marketers can no longer consider that they are the exclusive owners of their brand—because brands exist in the minds of their consumers. While social media empowers those consumers and enables them to actively participate in the conversations that define their brands.

To grasp the scale of this monumental change, “Understanding Influence – Part I” offered a brief historical perspective on marketing influence. Part II picks up with the brand conversations that social media bring. And how, by participating in the dialog, you can influence it.

1. Influence begins with listening, really listening.

Put yourself in a social situation. A group you’d like join is conversing. What do you do? First, you listen. Why? To get a feel for the tone of the conversation and see where you fit in. It’s the same in social media marketing.

Your first order of business should be to see who is talking about your brand and what your audience is saying. Identify the followers and the influencers—who, by the way, will not all be customers. These free tools will help you automate the listening process.

Google Reader – Tracking all the people who are talking about you is easier if you aggregate them into a few places. Use Google Reader to search for anyone talking about your brands and gather their RSS feeds.
Google Blogsearch – Use Google Blogsearch to take snapshots of brands and subjects of interest. Say your business is solar energy. Blogsearch can show you not only who's talking solar, but who else is talking about helping customers go renewable through the same method--power purchase agreements--as you.
Google Alerts – After you've found the people who are talking use Google Alerts to automatically email you updates of the latest results.
Twitter Search – Keep track of relevant Tweets. Who's talking about Velveeta, right now?
Delicious – Use Delicious save all your bookmarks online, share them and see what other people are bookmarking. The site’s search and tagging tools let you see the most popular bookmarks being saved across your areas of interest.
Feedburner and Feedcompare.com – By sending your RSS feeds through Feedburner you can easily track your blog subscribers. Use Feedcompare to graphically contrast your Feedburner subscriber numbers with others.
Technorati – The self-proclaimed, “most comprehensive source of information on the blogosphere,” Technorati indexes more than 1.5 million new blog posts in real time. It also ranks them by “authority,” the number of blogs linking to a website over the last six months.

If you need more detailed metrics and reporting, several services can take your listening to a professional level. Their websites will do a far better job of explaining what they do.

2. Influence is not control

As tempting as it may be to jump right in and control a conversation, especially if it’s not going your way, attempting control is not the best strategy. Social media has customs. You have to be willing to give up the illusion of control left over from Mass Market era-thinking.

A funny thing happens when you surrender control. You actually become more powerful. Athletes will tell you that their best performances come when they “let go,” and get, “in the zone.”

Think what happens in a conversation when someone monopolizes it or makes it all about themselves. If you’re like me, you duck out as quickly as you can. If you want to be around to influence the conversation, you need folks to stick around.

3. Influence is built on authority

Want to have greater authority? Write greater content. It’s that simple—and difficult.

Worry less about chasing authority rankings. Worry more about posting unique and relevant content that reflects your brand and builds the brand experience. That’s what’ll keep your audience interested. And bring them back again and again.

Need help with your writing? Check out “How to Write Great Blog Content” by ProBlogger and follow Copyblogger whose blog focuses on writing great content.

4. Influence is built on relationships and sense of community

Say you’re looking for a restaurant. Who are you more likely to be influenced by: A close friend? Or, a complete stranger? The answer is obvious.

A recent Harvard Business Review study, “The Dynamics of Personal Influence” by Nichlas A. Christakis, finds that “although a person may be connected to other people by six degrees of separation, he or she is influenced only by those up to three degrees away.”

The more people talking about your brand, the more first, second and third-degree relationships you have. And the greater your potential influence. Creating a sense of community—a place—for your customers to gather and talk about your brand allows you to extend those close relationships.

Fan pages can create a hub for brand conversations. You’ll quickly learn what your customers love. And what they hate. You’ll also empower your customers to advocate for your brand.

5. Influence is built on honesty and trust

Trust is incredibly valuable—and fragile. Relationships are built on trust. So it follows that the more trusted you are, the greater your potential influence. Consistency is important. Read, “When Trust Breaks” by Amber Naslund of Altitude Branding.

If you want to have an influence, strive for honesty, humanity and humility in your all your social media communications because they build confidence—and trust—in you and your message.

6. Influence means being responsive.

Bad word of mouth can go viral almost instantly. You need to stop rumors and news about poor product performance or service before they spread.

When you blow it. Admit you’re wrong, apologize and fix the problem. Here, your actions will speak louder than words. And help regain lost trust.

Social media gives you the tools to listen, build positive relationships and a sense of community and provide trust-building opportunities that can help carry you through and resolve the inevitable trouble spots.

7. Influence is more powerful when it’s fully integrated

Those who say, “advertising is dead,” are just as off base as those who ignore social media. It’s not the medium. It’s the brand message and experience. Consistently delivered. At all points of brand contact.

Go and influence better

The aim of this two part series was to provide a perspective for understanding the value of social media in a marketing context. And to help you understand the components of influence. Effective influence—and marketing success—depends on going where your consumers are and joining them in the brand conversation.

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Understanding Influence - Part I

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Hydzik) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 01:24:00 +0000

Social media has fundamentally changed the world of marketing and there is no gain in going back. Marketers may no longer consider that they can “own” their brand—if indeed they ever did. Brands exist in the minds of their consumers. And social media empowers those consumers to actively participate in the conversations that define their brands.

To understand just how powerful a tool of influence social media has become, and its potential to further reinvent how we market, it helps to gain a little perspective and understand where we came from—where Part I begins.

A brief history of marketing influence

Mass Market Era. During the 1950s and 1960s, marketers developed a mass approach to selling standardized, mass-produced products to similarly standardized, undifferentiated mass consumers. For major brands, decisions were simple. Advertise heavily on one of the three major television networks and succeed. If success wasn’t automatic, fire the ad agency, freshen the creative and heavy up the media plan. Minor brands were effectively blocked from the game (and turned to more creative solutions).

Communication in the Mass Market era was all top down, company out. Whether consumers had a problem, or wanted to sing their favorite brand’s praises, their influence was pretty much limited to a closed circle of friends and contacts.

Positioning Era. In 1972, Al Ries and Jack Trout wrote a series of three articles for Ad Age that led to their groundbreaking 1980 book, “Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind,” now in its 20^th printing. It recognized that advertisers and agencies don’t position products, consumers do. It suggested that companies need to determine what position their products occupy in the consumer’s mind relative to other products and then to act strategically to reinforce or change that position.

Communication options, however, did not advance with the theory. Brand marketers fought the battle for consumer’s minds with essentially the same mass media to which they’d long been accustomed. Warily, the book also identified communications clutter—that consumers were being bombarded with more and more advertising messages and beginning to pay less and less attention.

High Tech/Media Options Era. Technology and media advances in the 1980s and 1990s began to shift the tectonic plates of brand power.

Media options began to explode with the advent of cable TV. Video recorders enabled consumers to time shift their favorite programs and skip past commercials. Video games gained a large, loyal following. Special interest magazines experienced tremendous growth as well, their success providing proof of niche marketing’s value.

But most of all, the growth of the Internet and effective search tools enabled consumers to do something they never could before. Suddenly, they could find all the information about brands that they might want. And they could get that information from sources they trust, outside of the brand’s control.

The marketer’s top-down communications monopoly was broken. With the ability for individual consumers to choose when they’ll be receptive to brand communication, consumer’s were at last in control. We demanded legislation that soundly trounced unwelcome telemarketers. And wise marketers recognize us as a market of “hand raisers” who can opt in and opt out the moment we aren’t receiving value from our membership.

Social Era. The rise of social media and the ascendance of the individual alters the game again. Totally. You and I and the folks next door now have the ability to directly communicate with and influence large audiences, decision makers, CEOs and celebrities. Even President of the United States. Social media levels the playing field. Big dollars don’t equate to success as they did in the Mass Market era. Niche marketing Davids can slay their Golliaths.

Blogs. Facebook. MySpace. LinkedIn. Twitter. YouTube. Wikis. Podcasts. iTunes. Hulu. Each of us can customize our online experiences as we wish. Invite friends and business associates into our circle. Participate as a brand fan. Create a group. Launch a business. Support a cause.

And actively converse.

Whereas earlier marketing eras were primarily one-way communication. Brand to consumer or brand to distribution channel, for example. The social era is about two-way communication. Success today is about relationships. Conversations. Give and take.

You can ignore the conversation that’s going on. Or embrace it and participate. And by your participation, influence it.

Tomorrow, “Understanding Influence – Part II” will continue with 7 thoughts on how influence works in brand conversations.

Photo of 1950s family, Raleigh City Museum. "Position: Battle for Your Mind" cover from Amazon.com. Canon A5 review, Digital Photography Review.

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Top 10 Tips to Do Brand Naming Right

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Hydzik) — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 23:47:00 +0000

Anyone can come up with a name. But successfully naming a company, brand, product or service is a strategic art. And a value-creating business. If it’s not your business, what do you do?

Common answers include…Brainstorming names with your team. Asking your best customers for a few thoughts. Employing web-based naming tools—hey, they’re free. Trusting your gut that, “this is cool.” Going social and crowdsourcing it. Calling in your advertising agency. Hiring a branding consultant.

The right answer for you, of course, depends on your needs, your budget and your timing. And for some, whether or not they’re feeling lucky.

Whatever direction you choose, luck should have nothing to do with developing a distinctive and memorable name and identity. You wouldn’t trust your business or your product engineering to luck, would you? Then why trust the brand naming process to luck? It’s that important.

What’s in a name?

Perhaps your very success.

Words and images matter. They separate the ordinary from the run-of-the-mill. They define and create brand value that drives right to the bottom line.

This is not just a basketball shoe, it’s the Nike Zoom Kobe IV – Black Mamba. Put this shoe on and “strike again” like Kobe.

The best way to ensure branding and naming success is to organize your efforts around a strategic approach.

1. Start with the customer

If you know me, or you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know how adamant I am that marketing—indeed all business—begins with the customer. All too often, businesses begin with a technology or engineering advantage and then belatedly back into the real consumer connections after the product development is nearly complete.

Don’t be that marketer.

Your job is to create an emotional bond. So, know your customer inside and out. Not just demographics. Know what makes them tick. Get inside their behaviors so well you can predict how they’ll act. Get inside their heads and identify with their psychographic makeup and lifestyle. Go where they go. Do what they do. Would you buy a hang glider from someone who had only read about it? I thought not.

Forget what you know and “ride the truck” to learn your brand experience from your target audience perspective. Go home, take your product instructions out of the box and see how long it takes your significant other, or better yet your neighbor, to put the thing together.

Break your customers into actionable segments: Who has the potential to bring you the highest sales, most profits, repeat business. Who are your influencers. Followers. See my earlier posting, “Find Your Segmentation Strategy Personality Type” for more.

2. Know your competition, know yourself

Certainly you already know who your competitors are, you also need to know how they compare to you and your products and services. Think of it this way, your business strategy ought to inform your branding strategy. Ask…

What your competition stands for and what your company and brands stand for, as well.
Compare mission/vision and corporate objectives
What area of the market space does the competition own and what’s missing in the market.
Your competitors’ Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats. And yours.
Deconstruct the competition’s brand architecture and examine what their names convey, the positioning, the brand essence and promise, the structure, where they can go from where they are.

3. Communicate a compelling new idea

Now that you know your customer inside and out, and you know exactly where the competition stands, you’re ready to think about naming. Start by asking this simple, but singularly important, question.

What do I need my name to say?

The most powerful and most memorable names communicate a unique idea. They instantly tell your customer about you, how your brand is different, what benefits they’ll enjoy and create emotional connections that energize brand relationships.

Often, this is not an easy exercise. You first have to agree on how you’re positioning your product and what you want the name to say before you can create a framework for generating on-target names. Do it right, however, and you can lead the category.

4. Dare to be different

Safe is no place to carve out a new brand space. How many more “Ameri” companies do we need? Ameri-Force, AmeriGas, Ameri-Cure, Ameri-Floors, Ameri-PAC…enough already.

While being original, your new name needs an element of familiarity that instantly makes your audience at ease. Speaking of which, it should be easy to pronounce and spell as well.

5. Brand architecture is foundational

Does your name have to fit within a corporate hierarchy of other brands and products? How will your corporate brand and product brands relate and how will your product brands deliver on the corporate brand promise? Considering brand architecture upfront is the smart move and could save your business an unnecessary and expensive rebranding effort.

Generally, marketers use one of three major brand architecture approaches:

Monolithic, where the corporate name is used on all products and services the company offers. Think of “branded houses” like Virgin, composed of more than 200 companies—brands as disparate as Virgin America (airline), Virgin Galactic (space flight), Virgin Mobile (mobile phone service), Virgin Active (health), Virgin Wines (online oenology), Virgin Vacations (travel agency), Virgin Megastore (shopping) and Virgin Earth (environmental).

Endorsed, in which all sub-brands are linked to the corporate brand by means of a verbal or visual endorsement. Branding powerhouse, Apple, is a perfect example of the “house blend” approach where the Apple brand halo adds credibility to Apple Macintosh, Apple iPod, Apple iTunes and Apple iPhone.

Freestanding, where the corporate brand is essentially a holding company and each product line or service is branded separately for its target market. The “house of brands” parent gets little or no prominence over the sub-brands. Clorox is a “house of brands” company with many well-known product lines under its corporate umbrella, including: Brita (water filters), Burt’s Bees (natural products), Glad (storage bags), Hidden Valley Ranch (salad dressings), Kingsford (charcoal), S.O.S. (cleaning products), Liquid Plumber (drain opener), Scoop Away (cat litter) and, of course, Clorox (bleach).

6. Today local…tomorrow the world.

Even if your small business has no intention of growing outside your home town, don’t constrain yourself with small town thinking. Make sure your name can grow as your business grows in the future to regional, national and even international distribution.

A small, high-quality food delivery service based in Austin, TX could have called itself Austin Food Delivery. Instead the business owners identified a consumer niche, developed a novel business plan and branded themselves Casserole Queens. Their business idea can grow as far and wide as they want to take it. And the name instantly communicates what sets them apart.

While you’re thinking globally, avoid creating an international incident with you new name. Make sure it successfully crosses cultural, religious, linguistic and language boundaries as well.

According to Coca-Cola when bringing its brand to China, the closest phonetic characters translated as “K'o K'ou K'o Lê,” meaning “bite the wax tadpole.” Later a more preferable definition was found, “to permit mouth to be able to rejoice.” Know before you go.

7. Be expansive.

Plan for product line extensions today. Right now. Before your first brand is even out the door. Swiffer now covers a host of cleaning solutions from sweeping to dusting to mopping—both wet and dry—all under the same brand architecture.

8. Own it or regret it.

Making a comprehensive legal search of the rights to your name should be part of your plan from the start. Sure it’s possible to use a name without trademarking it. You risk all the value you invest in your brand if another company can lay claim to it.

Brand naming agencies often supply legal search services or they can connect you with partners who specialize in the area. Sometimes your own lawyers can help. Your legal team should make a definitive search to asses whether a name is both available and whether it’s protectable (distinctive enough that you can “own” it).

Availability and protectability are not binary issues.

Sometimes an availability search will find no relevant hits. Other times it will disclose relevant hits and be unclear about the prospects of availability. It can also save you big trouble by identifying conflicting marks where extreme risk may be involved.

Some names may be unique enough that your attorneys will judge them strongly or likely protectable. Other times a name may be weakly or borderline unprotectable. Some may be likely unprotectable. The earlier you know, the better.

You can make a quick check can on Google. Add more depth by searching the United States Patent and Trademark Office database at http://www.uspto.gov/main/trademarks.htm. But get professional legal help on this.

Make sure the domain is clear or available in the aftermarket before you fall in love with a name. Some places to check.

InterNIC. http://www.internic.net/
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) which helps coordinate the Internet’s naming system. http://www.icann.org/
And services like Domain Tools’ Bulk Check. http://www.domaintools.com/bulk-check/

9. Test it.

See how your names connect and resonate with your key audiences. Budget may decide the level of research and statistical sophistication you apply. But avoid staying in-house. You’re too close. And be skeptical of focus groups where the dynamics may identify weak names yet are no guarantee of finding strong, original names.

10. Integrate it.

All your marketing efforts should speak with one voice. Integrate your branding by developing brand guidelines and make sure anyone who needs them has them.

Be prepared to spend behind the launch of your brand. Brand name associations are not built in a day. They take time and repetition, regardless of the media you employ.

Bring everyone aboard. Employees. Sales force. The board room. Partners and vendors. And, of course, your customers. Everyone should know what you and your brand stand for and how the name and identity deliver.

Don’t trust your brand name success to luck

Great names don’t just pop up—and your brand is too important to trust success to luck.

Many marketers, once they realize what’s involved in creating successful names, find that the professional help of an experience integrated brand marketing agency is well worth the investment.

However you approach your naming assignment, put these 10 tips to work and think strategically about your naming process to ensure a great foundation for business success.

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Resources

Here are a few web-based resources you may find helpful.

Dictionary: http://www.dictionary.com/
Thesaurus: http://www.thesaurus.com/
Visual Thesaurus: http://www.visualthesaurus.com/

These may be fast and free, or nearly so. Keep in mind, if you haven’t done your strategic homework, they’re probably worth precisely what they cost.

Rhymer: http://www.rhymer.com/naming.html
WordLab Tools: http://www.wordlab.com/tools/t_index.cfm
Name This: http://namethis.com/name_this

Blogs:

Name Wire Product Naming Blog: http://www.namedevelopment.com/blog/archives/brand-naming/default.html
Catchword’s naming blog: http://www.catchwordbranding.com/catchthis/category/brand-naming/

All images and trademarks are copyright by their respective owners, including: Nike, Virgin, Casserole Queens, and Swiffer.

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Social Networks Transforming Consumer Behavior

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Hydzik) — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 17:51:00 +0000

A new study shows the way consumers interact is changing. Marketers and advertisers will need to adapt their strategies in order to target and better engage.

The impact of the social media phenomenon on Internet usage is now harder to miss. A new study, “Global Faces and Networked Places: A Nielsen report on Social Networking’s New Global Footprint” shows the extent of the change. Member communities, which include social networks and blogs, are now the fourth most popular online category worldwide. They lead personal e-mail and are growing at a rate more than twice that of the largest sectors—search, portals and software.

Time on social sites growing 3X faster than Internet
Two-thirds of all Internet users visit a social network and social networking now accounts for nearly 10% of all the time spent online. According to the study, between December of 2007 and 2008, the total time spent online globally rose 18%. Member community sites, on the other hand, jumped 63%—to 45 billion minutes. Facebook, which is leading the way globally, jumped 566%, from 3.1 billion to 20.5 billion minutes in that same time period.

Audiences now broader
The study also shows that as these networks become more mainstream, their audience composition shifts—becoming broader and more mature as well. As a result, marketers can now consider social media for products and services that appeal to a broader audience.

Points to a need for strategic change
The “potentially transformational change” in the way consumers interact, calls for a strategic change in the way advertisers and advertising approach their audience.

Nielsen noted several key challenges posed by social media marketing.

Media dollars spent so far aren’t commensurate with the size and engagement level of the audience.
Members have a sense of ownership around the personal content they provide and may be less inclined to accept advertising around it.
Network members may see highly-targeted ads as invading their privacy.

Five Strategies
The report identifies five strategies marketers may need to adopt to ensure success.

Work more closely with the networks. Because the networks need advertisers to monetize their audience and advertisers need the networks to go where their consumers are spending more time, programs that benefit both parties will have a major advantage.
Change the advertising model. The social network experience is diverse and that means that standard ad models will need to be set aside in favor of trying and testing new approaches.
Be conversational. The social world is one in which participating in a two-way conversation is the rule. The old push advertising model will not be effective.
Be authentic. At a time when traditional advertising is losing trust, word of mouth, humility and honesty—coupled with conversation—will be the norm.
Add value through interaction and consultation. Social networks thrive because members add value to each other’s lives through interaction. Marketing efforts should follow suit. Continual investment in time and effort—as opposed to purely financial—is needed to be of value to both partners.

Download the full PDF report and compare it with your social marketing plans. Are you on target?

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Want to be more innovative? Be less comfortable.

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Hydzik) — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 19:13:00 +0000

The 80^th birthday of one of America’s great architects, Frank O. Gehry, got me thinking about innovation. Where do great ideas come from? Are they born whole or do they evolve? What do they look, feel, sound like?

Innovation is hard. It’s also easy. All it takes is the ability to take a giant, uncomfortable leap.

Comfort has its places, but the realm of creativity and innovation is not one of them. So innovators learn to heave themselves out of their comfort zones and launch into rarified, never-been-done-before air without a net. Without censuring or conscious thought. Innovators put faith in their experiences, their talent, their team and process.

Is it any wonder why serial entrepreneurs succeed so often? They believe in the absolute fact that they’ve done it before and they’ll do it again, present comfort be dashed. The money isn’t bad, either.

Get outside your zone

Innovation is not about what you know. It is, however, a lot about what you don’t. So chuck the map, take the corner and GO!…up maybe, instead of left. Step outside your comfort zone and look for inspiration outside your field of expertise—away from your knowledge base.

What we know too often interferes with innovation. We acquire such vertical expertise that we get too close to a problem. We know all the reasons something won’t work and all the dead ends. Having a can’t be done attitude prevents us from making the giant leaps that true innovation requires.

So if you’re a geneticist, look at the work of a photographer. If you’re a photographer, read a book on physics. If you’re a physicist, study a book on Taoists. Oh, that’s right, physicist Fritjof Capra did just that, publishing The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels Between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism, a perennial bestseller translated into more than 20 languages.

A favorite source of inspiration

One of my favorite sources of inspiration is architecture. Like marketing, it combines business and aesthetics. It embodies emotion. Captures the imagination. Takes you places you’ve never been before. Inspires passion.

Arguably, one of the most creative and innovative architects of a generation is Frank O. Gehry. These masterpieces, which require immense computational power to plan and build, do not come from the mind of a computer genius. In fact, to this day, Gehry still cannot or does not use a computer in his work. Gehry’s innovations come from a mind that reveals itself in rough, childlike sketches. In these squiggles you can see the form of the new structure. The energy. The life.

Gehry is about creating, “an architecture rooted in the messiness of everyday life. His aim is to break down accepted social norms, to liberate the creative imagination.” His Disney Hall design was deemed, “a powerful and madly exuberant work.” (See “Review of Disney Hall: Reflection of the city around it” by Nicolai Ouroussoff, L.A. Times, Oct. 19, 2003.) His sketches prevent him from putting too many reality-laden parameters on the design while innovation is being born.

Watch Sketches of Frank Gehry – Bilbao and hear Gehry and others talk about the impact of his artistry. What’s amazing is that the Guggenheim at Bilbao comes from sketches like the one just below!

I like to put Gehry’s sketchiness and messiness to work when brainstorming creative solutions to marketing challenges. I like to forget what I know (those who know me might argue that this is especially easy for me) and assume, even if only for a moment, that it can be done and we’ll work out the difficulties later. That’s the way of innovation.

If innovation matters in your line of work—and frankly, I can’t think of an area in which it doesn’t—get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Photograph Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain, Getty Images/Dominique Faget/AFP

Ilustrations: Frank O. Gehry, courtesy of arcspace.com

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What a great integrated marketing program looks like

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Hydzik) — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 00:32:00 +0000

If you’re looking for an inspiring example of a totally integrated marketing campaign, look no further than the Amgen Tour of California. Few programs pull it all together as effectively, and offer the potential to change as many lives worldwide, as this one.

The tour is the largest bicycle stage race in the U.S., covering 750 miles over nine days from February 14-22. It features the worlds top professional riders and teams including seven-time Tour de France winner, Lance Armstrong who is celebrating his return to bike racing, along with support of his Livestrong cancer survivor advocacy and Amgen’s Breakaway from Cancer initiative.

This campaign represents the fourth time Amgen has put its marketing muscle behind the world-class event. Their totally integrated program beautifully leverages virtually every marketing medium: advertising, worthy cause promotion, sponsorship tie-ins, celebrity involvement, public relations, local marketing events, merchandise, online, social media, live coverage on the web and on television.

As I write this blog entry, I’m toggling my computer between my document and Amgen’s live coverage. Levi Leipheimer, who won the 2007 and 2008 race, just won today’s stage six, 24.1 kilometer (15 mile) time trial event in Solvang, CA and extended his overall lead. Levi, shown here raising three fingers in anticipation of winning his third straight tour, finished in 30:40. He’s fast, averaging over 29.3 mph!

A culture built around improving people’s lives

Amgen, is a world-leading biotech company devoted to discovering, developing, manufacturing and delivering innovative medicines. Their therapeutics have changed the practice of medicine, helping millions around the world in the fight against cancer and other illnesses.

Amgen’s desire to improve people’s lives is ingrained into their mission and culture. One of the ways they express this mission is through philanthropics that advance science education, improve quality of care and access of patients and support community resources.

In 2005, Amgen introduced Breakaway from Cancer as a critical component of its sponsorship. “One person alone does not beat cancer. It takes a team. Amgen's sponsorship of the Amgen Tour of California provides us with an opportunity to support the millions of people affected by cancer,” said Stuart A. Arbuckle, vice president and general manager of Oncology Business Unit at Amgen. “Amgen is proud to work with our Breakaway from Cancer nonprofit partners to raise awareness of the vital programs and services they provide that support people fighting cancer.”

Ride with Amgen employees—if you can keep up

Tour sponsorship touches every Amgen audience from employees to health care providers to cancer survivors and their families to each and every one of us, worldwide including the tightly-knit cycling community.

Healthy lifestyle matters to Amgen. And they “ride the ride,” if you’ll pardon the metaphorical extrapolation. Amgen sponsors one of the largest corporate employee cycling teams—with more than 900 members.

Totally connected, strategically strong

By now, the connections should be clear: Amgen’s involvement in developing breakthrough cancer theraputics. The personal connection of employees who have survived cancer (several of whom are featured in its online marketing). Its employee cycling team. Its creation of Breakaway from Cancer. The involvement of cancer-survivor activist Lance Armstrong. Each is a natural fit and a reason this program is so strategically strong.

No single marketing medium can deliver the impact that all these levers working together can deliver. See for yourself, watch the final two tour stages live tomorrow and Sunday. And use the Amgen Tour of California as a model for your major integrated marketing initiatives.

Images: Amgen, Amgen Tour of California, Breakaway from Cancer, Lance Armstrong, Livestrong.

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How well do you know your customers?

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Hydzik) — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 17:06:00 +0000

The better you understand your customers, the better you can connect your brand with their wants and needs. Recently I saw one of my favorite “get to know your customer” strategies being used as the subject of a smart local television commercial.

Walter E. Smithe, a Chicago-area furniture retailer, is as renowned for the humorous advertising antics of its management team—brothers Walter, Tim and Mark Smithe—as for its custom-upholstered furniture. These guys really seem willing to get to know their customers. In the store. And beyond.

Over the years, the brothers have sung the store’s tag line, “You dream it. We build it.” in commercials where they’ve been everything from music video stars...

To cicadas (“Cicada sale. They just won’t leave.”)…

To Jedi (“May the furniture be with you.”)…

The latest Walter E. Smithe spots feature a practice more marketers may want to adopt. We call it…

Riding the truck

In the commercials, “Surprise Visit #1, #2 and #3, the brothers take time from their management duties to climb aboard Walter E. Smithe delivery trucks to visit with their customers as furniture is delivered.

In addition to providing material for the TV spots, Riding the Truck gave the brothers an opportunity to gain vital insight into their clients.

It put them in direct touch with their customers at a critical part of the brand experience—furniture delivery. Here’s where anticipation of the arrival of custom-upholstered furniture turns into delight. Here’s where the customer has the delivery team move the furniture to just the right location. Here’s the moment Walter E. Smithe lives for: Truly satisfied customers. Passionate word-of-mouth advocates. Potential repeat customers. A thriving business.

The brothers also had a chance to observe, first hand, how well their delivery staff does their job. And how important that critical customer connection is to happy—and loyal—customers.

Works with your other audiences, as well

Riding the truck isn’t just for customer visits. It’s for getting to know every key stakeholder in the marketing cycle. From your distribution channel. To your sales team.

Ever hear, “the sales force will never buy that idea?” If you ask why, time and again you can’t get a concrete answer from anyone in the home office. Because no one’s been out in the field with the people doing the work recently.

Ride the truck. See what a day in the field is like. How they handle customer questions and issues. Share your ideas and ask how to make them better. Ask them for their ideas. Integrate this feedback mechanism into your process and watch a difference in response the next time marketing and sales need to join forces for a major initiative.

Isolation grows when you don’t ride

Working on a new piece of automobile business, we insisted that everyone on our team make multiple visits the auto maker’s dealers. And the competition as well. We posed as buyers and took test drives. We went through the sales process. We pretended to “kick the tires” while observing others in the act of buying. Watching the sales team in the act of selling. We hung out in the showroom and collected literature. We dropped off our cars at the service department to see how well that important end of the business was run. We went to auto shows. We surfed the net. Downloaded Consumer Reports and Edmund’s recommendations. “Rode” with online car fan sites.

When we presented our findings, it was obvious that our clients had not been inside a dealership in years—even to purchase their own cars, which they bought directly through the company. Their connection with the customer experience was remote.

All kinds of brands have the same issue. Their marketers don’t get out often enough to experience their brands as customers do, and as their sales teams do.

So get out of the office and connect

Want to know your customers better? Put down the spreadsheets. Step away from the analytics for a moment and the second-hand reports. Take a page from the Smithe brothers.

Get out of the office and go ride the truck for yourself.

Put your team on the truck as well. I guarantee you’ll learn something every time. You’ll generate better, customer-connected ideas and you’ll be armed with first-hand knowledge that will help you sell those ideas.

All images, Walter E. Smithe.

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Your Website—Five Pillars of Peak Performance, Cont’d.

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Hydzik) — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 22:43:00 +0000

Part 2 of 2

Previously we wrote about the need for winning athletes to maximize their fitness in each of the five performance pillars: Cardio. Strength. Speed. Flexibility. Nutrition and rest. And we introduced the idea that winning websites have peak performance pillars as well.

Technical Design
Human Design
Branding
Strategy
ROI

Technical design and human design were covered in our previous blog, Your Website—Five Pillars of Peak Performance, Part 1. Today’s blog will continue to explore website fitness by examining the remaining performance pillars, starting with Number 3. Branding.

3. Branding

Is your branding strong? Does your online brand profile match your offline brand? The image? The personality? The brand experience? A peak performing website creates or reinforces the key elements of your branding. Test your site for peak performance by giving it a brand audit.

First, what is a brand, anyway?

The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a, “name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers.”

But a brand is much more than this. A brand is a promise, say some. An expectation, say others. Better. Because a brand lives beyond the symbols. A brand lives in the minds of its consumers and stands on the relationships it builds with its audience—creating an emotional bond. As with us humans, the more passionate the relationship, the stronger the brand connection.

The process of branding is all about delivering on the essence of your brand everywhere people contact it. From the product itself to packaging to your media efforts. And of course, your website. Branding fitness breaks down into two key performance factors—design and, an emotive component, heart.

Design

From a brand design perspective ask the following. Is your brand imagery strong?

Logos, fonts, color schemes, and other design elements used properly, prominently and consistently in the layout of your site?

Same with your brand symbols? If you’re Pillsbury, is your ever-ticklish Pillsbury Doughboy present? For one tire-seller, your Michelin man?

Did you forget sound? Audio logos are powerful brand connections. If I say, “NBC,” you can sing the three tones in your head. How about McDonald’s “I’m lovin’ it” audio tag? Check out “Building Brand Value Through the Strategic Use of Sound” by Noel Franus. Or follow his blog, Intentional Audio Identity.

Does your voice—the language you use—follow brand guidelines consistently. For instance, Visa understands what it means to its customers well. Promotional offers are never “free,” they’re offered, “with our compliments.”

Are your brand taglines and messages incorporated as essential components?

Are your pages CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) template-based to ensure that key brand design, navigation and content are consistent, especially as revisions occur and new pages are added?

Heart

Winning athletes are highly competitive people. No mountain too high. No breakaway unchallenged. When the world’s best step up in the face of stiff competition and tough conditions, we say that they have heart. Soul. Emotion. Same with branding your website.

Can your customers grasp your brand essence—the guiding vision of your brand—from your website.

Is your personality well represented? Are you serious? Playful? Trustworthy? It should show. And be consistent.

Does your brand value come through?

Test your website’s branding fitness and see if you’re up the challenge.

4. Strategy

Why is your business on the web? Because your competition is? To generate awareness? Clickthroughs? Traffic? Leads? Sales?

Achieving peak performance requires that you set and periodically measure your website against your objectives. And just as athletes set goals, achieve them, then set new, higher goals, so should your web strategy.

Four questions:

What are your objectives for your website?
Are your web objectives strategically linked to your business goals?
Are you measuring what matters most—on a regular basis?
Is your web marketing integrated with your other media efforts?

KPIs

When it comes to measuring what matters most—make sure you establish a clearly defined set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

Start with your business goals and then relate them to areas where the web can deliver. Don’t be satisfied with surface attributes. Go deeper. Like quality leads generated, not just raw leads. Most valuable customers acquired or lost, not just all customers. Like profitable sales, not just sales.

What other value measures matter to you strategically? Perhaps you need to establish a leadership position. Or pave the way for sales calls by providing useful information in the form of white papers and reports. Perhaps you want to increase customer interaction. Perhaps you want to involve your customers or a wider group of employees in product design so you can go to market faster with better products.

Marketing integration

Integrating your web marketing with your advertising, promotion, PR and social media efforts is another way peak performers set themselves up to win. You may have to break down internal silos to get all your departments and agency partners working toward the same goal. But the impact can be well worth it.

According to New York Times article, “Making Every Second, or $100,000, Count,” Superbowl advertisers General Electric, E*Trade and others, sought “more bang for their buck” by integrating $3 million per 30-second TV spots with online efforts. “It’s more than a 30-second spot,” said Nick Utton, chief marketing officer at E*Trade in New York. “The Super Bowl is part of a total plan.”

Sadly too many marketers still miss this important strategy. "Only Two in Three Bowl Brands Ran Integrated Online Campaigns," according to Promo Magazine. The article quotes Reprise Media, the search and social media subsidiary of the Interpublic Group, that only about two-thirds of the brands that ran spots during the Superbowl bought pay-per-click search ads against either their brands or their specific products.” Consider it opportunity missed. Potential performance gains squandered.

5. ROI

Do you know the value your website is contributing to your business—your Return on Investment? Too many marketers don’t.

In a recent Conference Board MarketingCharts report, “Marketing Execs Struggle to Show ROI,” half the companies surveyed report measuring ROI for less than two years. More than one-third still report making no efforts to measure ROI at all. Reasons include lack of resources, lack of connection with performance objectives and inadequate focus.

For a competitive athlete, winning has clear measures. Cross the finish line first. Jump the highest. Or longest. Have the fastest time. Score the most points, goals, runs, touchdowns, bullseyes. Take the fewest strokes. KO your opponent.

If you’ve done your pillar 4. Strategy homework and set clear objectives based on your business goals, your measures should be clearer and more meaningful as well.

Calculating ROI for an e-commerce website can be straightforward. Take the revenue generated, look at the lifetime value of that customer, factor in costs and compute. Go deeper and refine your information by analyzing offers and customer segments to find those that deliver the highest combination of revenue, profit and share of wallet.

If you provide business services, your objective may be to attract new customers using a knowledge leadership strategy. You might measure white paper downloads and track them against qualified sales leads and customers acquired. Go deeper by tracking leads with your partners against conversion rates and average sales value and profit to see where the best leads are coming from.

About costs

ROI needs to consider what it costs build in website functionality and to maintain it. Then compares those costs with what that functionality would cost to provide if done by the business elsewhere.

Returning to the white paper example, how much would it cost to print those papers, inventory them and fulfill requests by conventional mail? What it would cost for UPS to track a package via a call center vs. online?

Be careful though, just because you can shift some services to the web doesn’t mean they’re valued equally by your customers. Airlines were able to reduce ticketing and staffing costs by providing self-service functionality and e-tickets via the web. Some airline customers are huge fans. Others frustrated.

Web analytics services that help you determine ROI costs range from free (as with Google Analytics) on up. The key to success is basing your measurements on sound objectives—whether they’re easily quantifiable like a cost savings or more qualitative, like brand image perceptions.

Understanding your ROI is a start, not a finish. Knowing your ROI helps you make better decisions. Like a winning athlete, your goal should be to benchmark and improve.

It isn’t how much it costs to make improvements, it’s what kind of return you get on your investment—as it delivers on your objectives. If it costs $1/2-million to upgrade your website, that’s big money. If you have the ROI numbers that show your $1/2-million investment can generate $3 million in additional profit, you’re on your way.

Use the five pillars and test your site's fitness

Our goal with the Five Pillars of Peak Performance is to help you realize that a winning website is based on a combination of factors that are unique to your business.

Just as an athlete must achieve their goals in each of the five pillars of athletic performance, your website needs to excel in technical design, human design, branding, strategy and ROI in order to deliver winning performance for your business.

Bicycling images were made during stage three of the 2008 Amgen Tour of California as some of the world’s best professional racers were completing the tough Category 1 climb up Sierra Road en route from Modesto to the San Jose, California finish. The 2009 tour begins today. Follow America's premier bicycle race here: http://www.amgentourofcalifornia.com/

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Your Website—Five Pillars of Peak Performance

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Hydzik) — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 21:08:00 +0000

Part 1 of 2

Top athletes know winning requires that they achieve their fitness goals in all five performance pillars: Cardio. Strength. Speed. Flexibility. Nutrition and rest.

Websites have peak performance pillars as well.

Your website’s got to be pumped in all five performance areas in order to deliver the results your business demands. This has never been more true than today where marketing activities and budgets are under careful scrutiny. Coach your website to top fitness in all five pillars to ensure it makes a winning contribution to your marketing mix.

Technical Design
Human Design
Branding
Strategy
ROI

1. Technical Design

Is your website technically fit? Does it present itself well to search engines? Does it achieve a higher Search Engine Results Page (SERP) ranking than your competition?

A one-stop fitness test for the technical aspects of your website is fast, easy and free. The HubSpot WebGrader tool will score your website on more than 50 different technical Search Engine Optimization (SEO) variables—including both on-page SEO (such as meta data tags, heading and image summaries and readability) and off-page (including domain age and expiration, permanent redirect, Google PageRank and last crawl, traffic rank, inbound links, blogs and more).

Hundreds of thousands of companies have used WebGrader to analyze their websites, so the comparison data is well grounded. WebGrader also suggests areas where improvements in technical areas may help your site score higher. It only takes a few moments to run.

Take a baseline now. Make improvements to your site. And run the tool often to check your progress. The best athletes always know who the real competition is, so check your competitors as well.

Search Engine Optimization is a huge and important topic. Getting it right is a work continually in progress. If you're interested in more detail on how search works, you might start by looking over my earlier blog, "SEO: 3 Simple Rules" for some additional suggestions.

2. Human Design

With all the attention paid to the technical aspects of optimizing websites for search engines, marketers sometimes forget the human connection that drives business.

Ask yourself, is your website designed for your audience? All your audiences? Each with their own particular reason for visiting?

While human design fitness testing is perhaps not as easy to quantify as technical design, designing for people is vitally important to both immediate results and long-term success. Peak fitness on this performance aspect calls for excellence in two key areas—content and usability.

Content

Write and design your site for people first, not search engines. Deliver amazingly relevant content. Valuable information and useful tools. Deliver real value for your audience. Separate yourself from your competition. In other words, become a “Content Marketer.”

According to Junta42, self-described as the go-to site on such matters, Content Marketing is the practice of, “creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience—with the objective of driving profitable customer action.”

Consider why your audience has gone to the internet to visit your site. Are they there to do business with you? To confirm your expertise? To see what your management team has to say or to download your annual report? To learn, research a purchase or discover new information and new things? To communicate and socialize? To be entertained? To buy? “Everyone Uses the Internet for a Reason” says Dosh Dosh.

Remember, marketing is not about going to the masses anymore. It’s about allowing each individual to find their niche. See how you connect.

Finally, ask if your content is updated often? Without fresh content your site’s fitness wanes. Give viewers a new reason to build or strengthen your brand relationship.

Usability

Make life easy for your audience. Test your website’s usability fitness by asking these questions.

Is your site structure clear? Is your navigation easy and consistent—throughout the entire site? Have you created a path for visitors to follow? Your visitors shouldn’t have to guess where they are, where they’ve been or where they’re going. Have you provided a site map?
Are your inside text links styled so that hyperlinks are clearly emphasized with an underline or other consistent visual cue?
Does every page include a text-based menu, frequently at the bottom, to supplement fancy Flash or Spry menu systems that can sometimes give visitors difficulty? Or make it impossible for those using text-only browsing?
Can your visitors get back to the home page easily, from the menu bar? From your logo? From every corner of your site?
Is a significant segment of your audience mobile? Have you designed your site to be mobile friendly?
Have you provided a search tool, one that keeps your visitors with you instead of dumping them into another site?
Do your landing pages clearly describe the benefits of what you offer? Are they optimized for action? Do they make it plain what you want your audience to do? Download a webinar or useful widget. Sign up for your newsletter or blog. Take advantage of a limited time offer. Buy…now.
Speaking of eCommerce, are your shopping carts optimized to close the sale?
Are feedback forms short? And do you avoid asking for unnecessary and off-putting information?
Have you supplied complete contact information including business phone number, e-mail address, postal address or PO Box? For multiple locations and offices?
Have you tested your site—actually tested it—with your customers and other key audiences? Can visitors quickly find what they need? Can they recover from navigation and other errors? Smart web marketers actually let their customers design their sites for them. Of course, this means continually testing. Do you?

How’s your website’s fitness so far? If your technical and human design are at their peak you’re doing well. But your overall fitness isn’t yet assured. Check back for Part 2 tomorrow as we discuss the remaining three pillars of peak website performance—Branding, Strategy and ROI.

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Using Social Media Strategically: Ford

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Hydzik) — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 23:12:00 +0000

News to Tweet about! The 2009 Ford Hybrid autos were just selected as “Greener Choices” by the environmental group, American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE). Ford tweeted the honor today from their FordDriveGreen account on Twitter.

Twitter is a social networking website on which users communicate online (and via mobile technology) by sending and receiving short 140 character messages called updates or tweets. These updates appear on the user’s profile page and are delivered to Twitter users who sign up to receive them.

Good news travels faster

Proud Ford’s update links to their “Ford and the Environment” website and delivers an online press release which supplies all the details.

ACEEE “Greener Choices,” “are widely available gas-powered cars and light trucks with automatic transmissions.” The 2009 Ford Escape Hybrid earned a superior “green score” and is rated for 34/31 miles per gallon in city/highway driving. Ford’s 2009 Ranger, was also listed. And all these vehicles meet low emission standards. Good news, indeed.

Using social media wisely

As Ford considered its entry into the social media marketplace, it's clear that it was smart and strategic. And human.

Their Twitter bio tells, “Ford Motor Company is committed to making affordable environmental technologies in vehicles people want & value.” And because people have conversations, not huge impersonal conglomerates, the FordDriveGreen account is managed by @ScottMonty. Scott is head of social media at Ford and, according to his Twitter bio a, “husband, dad…and generally nice guy.” This smart move keeps FordDriveGreen human while also maintaining the value created for Ford should Scott one day move up the corporate ladder or onto otherwise greener pastures.

Asked “Why Ford tweets?” for an excellent Mashable article, “40 of the Best Twitter Brands and the People Behind Them,” Scott explained, “It’s part of a larger social media strategy to humanize the Ford brand and put consumers in touch with Ford employees.” Hard to think of any other medium besides Twitter that instantly puts you directly in touch with the people who run and converse about their businesses.

How do Ford’s social efforts compare?

At the time this blog was written, FordDriveGreen has earned an enviable 97.6 out of 100 from the HubSpot TwitterGrader (try it yourself on your Twitter account at http://twitter.grader.com/ ). TwitterGrader measures the reach and authority of a Twitter user and bases its score on a combination of the number of followers you have, the power of your follower network, the pace of your updates, your profile completeness and “a few others.”

Tweet cloud looks right on mission and message.

environmental ford escapehybrid rt car #ford looks likeplug-in vehicle new battery ..we're ford’s fuel-efficient willelectric driving #naiasecoboost’s twin ecoboost fuelgreat fusion ford's mpg green

In good company

Ford’s effort with FordDriveGreen puts them in good company with other smart social media users, including competing auto makers Chevrolet and Honda, grocer Whole Foods, banker Wachovia (yes, a bank!) and more.

What conversations does your business want to join? Create? Encourage? Just remember, Strategy First, Tweet Second.

All visuals: Ford

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Best-Branded Superbowl Ads

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Hydzik) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 18:06:00 +0000

2009 brought us an exciting Steelers-Cardinals football game, decided only in the last moments by a “must deliver” play. It also brought the expected bevy of hopped-up television commercials, all vying for our attention.

Instead of being satisfied to look at the edgy creativity, special effects (3-D anyone?), irreverent humor and entertainment value, each year I like to focus on how well the spots deliver on branding.

Considering the big dollars that were spent to produce and air these commercials, marketers have a right to expect that their brands break through the clutter, not just their spots. How many times have you recalled every detail of a TV commercial but couldn’t remember the brand? At $3 million a 30-second pop, even one time may be too many!

My criteria

Branding matters because branding creates value. For the businesses that market them. For the consumers that love them.

So I ask…How well does the spot convey the brand essence? Does it deliver on the brand promise? How quickly does it connect with brand imagery? What associations will we make in our minds about the brand after having seen the commercials. How well does it build, reinforce or change our perceptions about the brand? Does it increase our sense of connection with the brand? Will we feel great about our brand choice?

Again, it’s not just how memorable the commercial. It’s how memorable and desirable the brand as a result of the advertising. Will the ad drive preference? Will it drive sales? Will it create or stir brand passion?

Watch all the ads at Fanhouse. Or see what Bob Garfield of AdAge has to say about this year’s crop.

My top 3 best-branded spots

Budweiser “Fetch” From the opening instant, you know this is a Bud commercial. All the elements are there, the red Budweiser cap, the Clydesdale, the dalmatian, the red wagon stacked with cases of America’s lager, the music. The story has Budweiser warmth and charm. A Bud worker tosses a stick for the dalmatian to fetch. “Good boy.” The Clydesdale, not to be outdone, races off only to return with an immense tree branch in his mouth. “Showoff,” the man tells the Clydesdale. Bravo.

Coca-Cola “Picnic” The spot opens on a lazily snoozing picnicker, basket to one side, Coca-Cola to the other. Switch to a lady bug’s perspective on the distinctive bottle. Instant brand recognition creates anticipation and expectations for the story, formed from a history of well-branded ads. Bumble bees, grasshoppers, dragonflies and more work together to abscond with the picnicker’s beverage. Knocking it over. Rolling it downhill. Floating it downstream. A powerful beetle uses its giant horn to open the bottle and share Coca-Cola with his insect friends. “Open happiness.”

Hulu.com “Alec Baldwin” This spot opens on the Hollywoodland sign and the highly recognizable Alec Baldwin, looking very “30 Rock.” Alec plays an alien who spoofs television’s ability to rot our brains. “TV only softens your brains.” he smirks. Now, thanks to hulu—which brings TV to your computer—turning your brains to mush is even easier. “What are you going to do, turn off both your TV and your computer?” Tagline spikes the brand connection. “Hulu. An evil plot to destroy the world. Enjoy.”

Best-branded campaign

Budweiser. In addition to “Fetch,” Bud’s advertising included 60-second spots, “Clydsdale Generations,” (a “story of strength, triumph and oats” for a horse that found its true calling) and “Horse Love” (“Ain’t no mountain high enough” to keep this Clydsdale from his girl, Daisy).

Notable mentions

These spots were still very strong. Very creative. Broke rules. Made a statement. Broke through. And earned a notable mention.

Monster.com “Moose” We fly in through the window of a lavish executive office. The camera circles around to the sounds of opera music. We see the boss, relaxing with feet up at his desk reading the paper. Centered behind him on the dark wood paneled wall is a giant moose head. As the camera continues to circle we see the plain white office on opposite side. Suddenly we realize the rest of the moose is literally sticking through the wall and an employee is hard at work at a cheap metal desk directly beneath the “business end” of the moose. “Need a new job. We can help.” Monster of a spot. Creates the tension. And the resolution.

Bridgestone “Moon Dancers” This spot takes us to the Moon where two astronauts race their dune buggy around the Lunar landscape to hip hop music. They head off to collect rocks, and dance a bit, only to return to find their vehicle in a more common urban situation, up on blocks—tires stolen. Could have used a bit a brand reinforcement up front, but the performance message comes on strong.

Agree or disagree with my selections. As a brand marketer, however, take heart in my method. Look at your brand advertising. And your competition. In addition to creative excellence, examine how well your ads connect with your customer on branding. And win the strategic fight for customer mindshare—and business.

Photo credit: screen grabs from TV commercials watched on Fanhouse.

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Customers Own the Brand Experience

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Hydzik) — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 00:26:00 +0000

What do you when a key element of your brand experience may be past its time? When the traditional is now less perfect, more complicated, more expensive and more prone to product spoilage? Oh, and requires a corkscrew?

We’re talking about the wine experience and a little question of how you top that vintage bottle of fine fermented grape.

As a vintner, you can bottle with natural cork or a metal screw top, known in the industry by its brand name, as a Stelvin cap. You even have the option to use a synthetic, plastic “cork.”

The decision is not clear cut. Used to be that screw tops wines were sold by the jug, low in cost and quality. Yet today, some of the most celebrated wineries are using Stelvins for their finest reserve offerings. Natural cork has issues as well. A nasty little tree bark disease, or poor sealing, can cause a “corked” taste, ruining your wine. Plastic is no panacea either. Consumers find some synthetic corks difficult to remove. And they may not seal as well as natural cork, either, allowing unwanted air intrusion.

It seems that some wineries can’t, or won’t, make up their minds. Could be supplies of quality cork are getting harder to find and more expensive. Could be that they haven’t fully decided that one method is truly better for the wine than another. Or it could be that they’re hedging bets.

The right answer

From a branding perspective, the right decision has nothing to do with cork or metal or plastic. The right answer for your brand comes from your customer. Because your customers own the brand experience. A couple scenarios.

If your primary customer is knowledgeable about wine and confident in their selection. If they’re unafraid to “uncork” a screw top for friends. If convenience matters. If your brand has opened up a conversation with your audience and created a relationship. Then by all means. Go Stelvin.

If your primary customer or the occasion, say a romantic dinner for two, is one where the traditional custom of removing the foil and pulling the cork is part of the experience. Then natural cork is where you ought to be. Or if your target is skilled with a corkscrew yet likes the idea of enjoying a quality wine at a slightly lower cost, then consider plastic.

That’s the lesson in all this wine talk.

Think about how your customer experiences your brand. The places. Occasions. The total experience. Think about your reputation and your customer connection. Are you blogging the advantages of Stelvin as many fine wineries have? Have you conducted and published taste tests that illustrate your favor? Is your key customer part of a close-knit group of loyals that is part of your brand conversation?

Your customer knows

Now assuming, fairly safely, that we’re not all in the wine business, what’s your version of cork vs. screw cap? Two things I can tell you for sure. Great wine is great wine regardless of what keeps it from spilling out the top of the bottle until you open it. And, your customer has the answer.

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Learning By Surprise

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Hydzik) — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 16:33:00 +0000

Have you ever noticed that you remember something better, during an otherwise ordinary and familiar situation, when something novel happens?

I have. Again and again. My grad school students learn better when I shake up the typical classroom—rearrange chairs or tables into a new pattern, hop up on a desk to dramatize a point, play a new music composition no one in the class has ever heard, have a student team teach an aspect of the lesson, bring coffee and cookies, walk among or sit with the students instead of staying anchored at the podium.

My clients respond positively to the right kind of surprise as well. Best of all, these surprises make it easier to sell breakthrough concepts and dramatic change.

Right kind of surprise? Well, here’s the wrong kind: “Oh yes, the bill, it’s higher than you expected.” Right kind: “The graphics for this marketing campaign were inspired by a little piece of ribbon our art director brought back from a trip to Italy.” Then show clients the ribbon by allowing a twirl of it to unwind from an index finger. Surprise. Graphics were 90% sold before they left the art bag.

So I often employ some surprising element in my class lectures, seminars and client presentations. I never understood why it worked, I just knew it did.

Novelty detector in the brain

Now there’s scientific evidence of what happens inside the brain—and how learning and memory may be improved—when surprise occurs. A study undertaken by Daniela Fenker and Hartmut Schütze, researchers at the University of Magdeburg's Neurology Clinic II in Germany, and excerpted by Scientific American, explains that “novelty enhances memory.”

Turns out our brains have a novelty detector—the hippocampus. Located in the temporal lobe of the cerebral cortex, the hippocampus is involved in discovering, processing and storing new sensory information. And the hippocampus becomes more active in response to novel stimuli than familiar.

The hippocampus compares incoming sensory information with stored knowledge. If these differ, the hippocampus sends a pulse of the messenger substance dopamine to the substantia nigra (SN) and ventral tegmental area (VTA) in the midbrain. From there nerve fibers extend back to the hippocampus and trigger the release of more dopamine. Researchers, including John Lisman of Brandeis University and Anthony Grace of the University of Pittsburgh, call this feedback mechanism the hippocampal-SN/VTA loop….

This feedback loop is why we remember things better in the context of novelty.

Novelty increases retention as well

Test subjects were shown photographs and given a series of words to remember while their brain activity was measured. The next day some of those same subjects were shown new images while others viewed familiar ones from the previous day. All the subjects were then asked to remember as many words from the previous day as possible. Recall was significantly better in the group that had just viewed new—novel—images.

Try surprise

In an earlier blog, Be more creative…do something different, I wrote how novelty can improve your creativity. Now there’s proof it enhances your memory. Try surprise and improve your abilities and your team’s. Or next time you’re giving a presentation, use an element of surprise to dramatize your point and aid your listeners’ retention. It’s fun, too. And fun is another proven way toward better learning.

Illustration credit: Brain Connection a Web resource from Posit Science.

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Great Advertising Like a Mini Movie

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Hydzik) — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:06:00 +0000

Great advertising tells a story. Involves you. Establishes a brand image. Creates desire. Separates you from the competition. Makes the most of its 30-second point of brand contact. Belgian beer maker Stella Artois really pulls it all together in their commercial entitled “Stella ArtoisThe Race, Do it for Papa!”

The TV spot recalls the atmosphere of 1930s-era bicycle racing. Two French brothers compete on their tandem bike on unpaved mountainous roads.

We join them just before the start as they both pay homage to their father, dedicating their race to glory that eluded papa years before. Shortly after the brothers take the lead, a flat sidelines them. While the one brother hurries to repair the flatted front tire, the other holds the tandem and watches a Stella Artois being poured in a nearby bar. The beer looks so delicious, so tempting that he secretly punctures the rear tire.

Their race now over, the two brothers take a seat at the bar. As they enjoy their brew, a gallery of old and yellowed photographs from races past reveals why papa’s glory was lost. Stella!

Christine Clarke of ‘boards The Creative Edge in Commercial Production interviewed Lowe Roche, Toronto VP/creative director Christina Yu who said, “Stella Artois has a long history of storytelling commercials. So you want to give craftsmanship and history to it; to put it in a timeless setting breaks through the clutter.”

Well done, Sella! As a brand marketer, the storytelling, branding and production are simply outstanding. As a tandem cyclist who has learned to love the hills, this one’s right on the mark. Whadda ya think, beer drinkers? Time for a Stella?

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The Act of Criticism vs. the Art of Critique

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Hydzik) — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 22:55:00 +0000

What went wrong with the Burger King Sacrifice social media promotion on Facebook: A learning opportunity in the building and execution of ideas.

Tearing down is vastly easier than building up. It only take seconds to bring down an old Las Vegas hotel that may have taken years to plan and build. Tearing down is fun, too. Crowds gather and cheer as the old is turned into rubble and dust. Lots of dust. Click and watch Vegas hotels implode for yourself on this HeroFlame video. C’mon, admit it. You want to look…you need to look.

On the other hand, building up is hard work.

All the worry and sweat and heavy lifting is usually done by smaller teams that have ownership and accountability for their product. No big crowds gather as the team burns the midnight oil. Concepting great ideas is tough work. Ensuring the flawless execution of those ideas is equally taxing. Results, reputations, money, and sometimes jobs, may be on the line.

Criticism is easy

Pick a victim and circumstance to tear down. Be fairly lucid as you skewer home your points. Then move on, smug in your superiority and scarcely moved by the rubble and dust you raise. The headline for this blog could have been,

“Whopper Sacrifice Faceplants on Facebook.”

Easy and fun. But not constructive.

In case you haven’t hear about it, the Whopper Sacrifice promotion was released by Burger King on Facebook January 8—and killed just one week later by Facebook. According to Brian Morrissey at Adweek, the concept of the Burger King-developed social media promotion was to reward people with a coupon for their signature burger when they “sacrificed” 10 friends from Facebook. It noted that people who have been on Facebook for a while may have accumulated too many so-called “friends,” some of whom they may barely know.

Facebook reportedly killed the app for privacy reasons. If you think about it strategically, you may come to another conclusion.

I believe Erica Naone at Technology Review gets it right for at least part of the BK audience. “Facebook's primary value…lies in maintaining…second-string acquaintances. I'm not going to lose touch with my best friend, my husband, or my sister, and I hardly need to interact with them on Facebook. But there's a circle of people that I care about and miss but who are beyond my ordinary ability to stay in touch. Thanks to Facebook, I can find these people….”

Big oops! It's critical to understand how your target audience relates to the medium and how they use it. Another apparent big oops, especially for a big international brand--not having Facebook in your camp before you release the promo.

How do you set the stage early on to prevent yourself from making these kinds of social faux pas? Back to our learning opportunity.

Critique is harder—and better

If you live on the front line as a brand marketer, it’s your job to create and build. I find that I get lots more out of my team and our ideas—and take brands to greater heights of success—when we practice the art of the critique as we brainstorm and develop new ideas.

While pure criticism is a hammer that destroys. Critique is an art that builds.

Good critique requires you to have mastery of your territory. For marketers, you must understand your brand, your target audience, key stakeholders, the marketing and media tools. You must understand the needs of your marketing partners. And you must know how to communicate your thoughts and criticisms to your team in a way that enables them to see weaknesses and at the same time enjoy the thrill of having the chance to continue to build. That’s their passion. They’re great at it. That’s why you hired ‘em, right? So let ‘em build and love it.

Go hypothetical and put yourself in the room at the marketing agency as the Whopper Sacrifice idea is being born and developed. Let’s say you’re the director in charge. How would you have reacted?

Would you have recognized the fun in the idea? Would you have recognized the inherent controversy? That it asks Facebook members to cut people from their friends list. Would you have spotted the strategic disconnect between the Burger King objective—involve customers with the brand in a fun, new social way. And the Facebook objective—grow membership and branded relationships. Would you have killed it?

Instead, if you practiced the art of criticism and built on the idea, what would you do?

You would recognize the folks that generated the Sacrifice concept for their ingenuity. You would lead them to discover the strategic disconnect for themselves. You would direct them to advance the objectives of both promo partners. If you had given your team that goal, and had them take another go at it, would the Sacrifice idea have evolved into something great? I submit that the talent in that room would have been fully capable of achieving greatness. And that the next iteration of the program—though it would surely look different—would be running today in glory, instead of living in infamy on the trash heap of “good.”

Look at Kraft as a model.

Kraft is running a Facebook campaign in conjunction with Feeding America that donates meals to needy families when users get their friends to add the Kraft Facebook app. Every friend who adds the Kraft Supports Feeding America app will provide over six meals for an American suffering from hunger. As this blog is being written Kraft has donated 1,792,322 meals toward its goal of 3.2 million—nearly 60% of its goal.

The promotion drives the objectives of both promotional partners. And it looks as if it’s on its way to be a social marketing success.

Mistakes can be good…as long as they’re not repeated

Marketers entering social media are entering new territory. The right answers are not always known, nor are they obvious. Mistakes will be made--and online they're hard to erase. Learn from others. Set the stage for success early on. Learn the art of critique. And build great ideas. Every time.

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Find your segmentation strategy personality type

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Hydzik) — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 21:28:00 +0000

When it comes to targeting your marketing efforts, nothing is more important than understanding your customer.

The better your know your customers’ wants and needs and desires, how they behave, where they are in the purchase cycle, how sensitive they are to cross sell efforts, lifetime value, (I could go on…), the better your marketing effectiveness.

Market segmentation, then, is the ongoing process of analyzing your customers and prospects and clustering them by similar characteristics that relate to their product or service needs. Here’s the key—clusters should be distinct and respond similarly to a particular marketing strategy or offer. Consumer or industrial, the objectives are the same, smarter segmentation can help you reach a more responsive audience with better results. You can better manage your marketing spend. You can enhance customer loyalty and boost satisfaction as you show your customers you truly understand them.

Test yourself and see. Which segmentation strategy personality type are you?

GeoDemo Monster
Segments customers along demographic lines—age, sex, family size, family life cycle, household income, occupation, education, religion, race, nationality. And geographics—region, county size, urban/suburban, climate and season, zip code.

How do you know you’re a GeoDemo? If you were to write a marketing brief for a consumer package goods product and your target audience description is: female, age 25-54, married, children, household income of $32,000-$70,000, living in A and B counties. Then you’re guilty as charged. What does this tell you about the target that’s really actionable? What about mom’s interests? Career? Lifestyle? What age are those children? What activities are they in? How does your brand relate to those kids and how does that make mom’s life better?

Geographics and demographics are starting points. Not destinations.

People just aren’t monolithic. And it doesn’t matter whether you’re a Millennial, a baby boomer or a senior. One of my graduate students once asked me to help her with a marketing campaign targeting seniors. She queried, “What do seniors do?” I responded by asking several people in the class, “What do you do?” “And you?” “And you?” Of course, they were all different. And so are seniors!

At while back, I lived a couple doors down from a retired couple who loved cars and made a business of it. They got Detroit automakers to hire them to pick up the latest cars and drive them back to Chicago, check them over mechanically, shine them up, and turn them over to journalists to thrash for a few days prior to writing a review. The couple’s business employed a small number of like-minded folks—older and young—to help dealers deliver cars and fleet vehicles. Interest in cars, not age, defines this cluster. As I said, geos and demos are a starting point.

Confirmed Carpet Bomber
Distressingly common, though not formally a type of audience segmentation…more the result from a lack of applying targeting sophistication to marketing campaigns. Other names for this personality type: Scattergunner and Shotgunner.

You may recognize the sort, they tend to be siloed and think vertically. They may lead the direct or e-mail marketing efforts for a corporate division or department. And they’re charged with increasing loyalty and share of wallet from a customer database that crosses departmental lines. Confirmed Carpet Bombers have been known to deliver as many as three to five offers a month to the same folks. And ignore the fact that other corporate divisions are doing the same.

Their customers are bombarded with offers and become fatigued. What’s more, they wonder whether the business really values them as customers because the offers often don’t seem to recognize their needs. Responsiveness declines. Loyalty scores drop. Marketing dollars are not efficiently spent.

Behaviorist
Segments customers with analytical data in hand. Marketing stimulus and response. Observation and measurement. Algorithm- and analyst-oriented, Behaviorists are definitely the power-user among segmentation personalities. Watson and Skinner would be proud.

Behaviorists have a lot going for them. Numbers, for one. Behaviorists aim to predict, using customer and historical data, which clusters are the most likely to respond to a particular offer. This is incredibly valuable. They can split a customer database into increasingly discrete and actionable targets. One analytics partner I worked with recently found more than 20 clusters for a banking client where previously Confirmed Carpet Bombers reigned.

Today, Behaviorists are everywhere, tracking every sort of web-browsing behavior. Pages visited. Searches made. Display ads clicked. Friends linked.

Weaknesses? Two biggies.

#1—Metrics Mania. It wasn’t long ago when behavioral types were all about clicks. The more clicks the better. And they were convincing, too. With CMOs continually having to justify marketing solutions to numbers-addicted CEOs and CFOs, it seemed the solution was at hand. Problem was—and is for Behaviorists who aren’t careful—unless you’re selling clicks, you need to measure something closer to your business and marketing objectives. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Like quality leads generated. Customers acquired or lost. Like sales. Better yet, profits. Loyalty scores. You name it. It’s your business. Your objectives. Measure what matters.

Weakness #2—Human Connection. Strictly objective measures can create blind spots. Successful brands connect with people on a subjective level and the best create passionate (sometimes irrationally passionate) customers. Even in the B2B market, human motivations are drivers. Why spend $X million on a new software package? Because the decision maker is internally driven to succeed. Because they want to be heroes, get promoted. Because their team will work smarter and faster so they can all go home and play with their kids.

Psychologist
Segments customers based on lifestyle factors. What customers do. Where they go. How they think of themselves. What they do with their free time. They can be anyone or anything they want. You can recognize Psychologists because they’re doing what their customers are doing. Going where they’re going. Getting to know them.

Why? Insight. And for marketers, insight is actionable.

A case in point. What do capitalist publisher, Malcom Forbes, and a twenty-something art director have in common?

It sure ain’t geographics or demographics. One could live anywhere he wanted in the world. The other, still with his parents. One was a multi-millionaire. And the other…well, let’s just say he earns somewhat less. It isn’t purchase behavior, either. The billionaire bought dozens of these products. The art director is eating peanut butter sandwiches every day for lunch and vacationing in his back yard to help save up for one.

The key segmentation variable. Lifestyle.

Both love Harley-Davidsons. They think (or thought, in Malcom’s case) of themselves as motorcyclists. They describe the feeling of the wind in their face and the freedom of riding. And when that art director finally saved up enough to buy his Fat Boy, he was just like Malcom Forbes! Live to ride. Ride to live.

All-Rounders
Inclusive in their approach to segmentation, All-Rounders apply the techniques of multiple personality types. They draw from a base of GeoDemo tendencies and augment them with the analytical understanding and ability to quantify of the Behaviorist while applying the Psychologist’s insight into a customer lifestyle and mindset. The best of all worlds.

Smart All-Rounders are also known to understand another important characteristic of smart segmentation. Continual refinement. Analyze. Test. Refine. Retest. Refine again. Succeed.

Photo credit: Forbes image, AMA's Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum.

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SEO: 3 Simple Rules

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Hydzik) — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 20:01:00 +0000

Spiders and Bots and Websites, Oh My!

Make it easier for your customers to find your website by making it easier for search engines to find and index your web content. In a nutshell, that’s what Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is all about.

The closer your company’s results are to the top of a search list, the better for you, because your customers often don’t look past the first few pages of results. At least not before kicking off another, perhaps more detailed, query. The iProspect Search Engine Behavior Study, performed in partnership with Jupiter Research, shows 23% look at only the first few results, 39% the first page, 19% the first two pages, 9% the first three pages, 10% more than 3 pages.

That’s why SEO is so important to your business. Smart SEO can help you get your results closer to the top and help lead more customers to your online door. I use three simple rules to guide the optimization process for my clients. Before we get to them, it’s really helpful to understand how search works?

What actually happens when you search online

Before you go to the web to initiate a search, Google and the other search engines have already been there. Using sophisticated software spiders (or robots or bots), Google continually crawls, or searches, the web, looking at the information on web pages in order to create an index—a very large index to a very, very large library.*

When you go to Google to search, Google actually goes to its own bank of computers and checks its index. That’s why you can type in “SEO” and get more than 271 million references in two tenths of a second.

How does Google choose an order for its results?

Relevance and popularity scores, my friend. And that’s where SEO comes in. The closer your customers search terms match the key words on your web pages—the more relevant they are—the closer you’ll come to the top.

If you were looking for information on Search Engine Optimization and typed “SEO” into a Google search, as I did a moment ago, you’d get a host of relevant items. A useful Wikipedia definition, some SEO providers. But the sixth item on first page of results included a reference to the Sponsors for Educational Opportunity, a non-profit that provides mentoring for high school students of color in New York city. Relevant? Perhaps not to our blog posting today. Search isn’t perfect, but it gets us there.

Where are people searching, today? comScore November 2008 U.S. Search Engine Rankings show Google dominates the market with 63.5% (up 0.4% from the previous month), followed by Yahoo at 20.4% and Microsoft Sites at 8.3%, Ask at 4% and AOL 3.8%. Between Google and Yahoo, you’ve got almost 85% of the market.

Organic vs. paid search

There are two kinds of search in this world...organic and paid.

Organic, or natural, results are ranked and presented by search engines according to their relevance to the search terms. Organic results are free.

Paid results are generally listed under a heading of “Sponsored Links” often at the top or right side of a page. They require a fee for the search engine to list their link for particular keywords. Google AdWords, where advertisers pay each time someone clicks the link in their ad (Pay Per Click, or PPC), is a leading example. We’re going to stick with organic results for today, however.

Rule #1—Customers First

Whatever the technical aspects of your website, make sure that it’s customer friendly. The more relevant and engaging you are to your customers—the better the quality of the experience and information you provide them—the more they will want to find you—and over time, the higher you’ll rank.

So before you go any further, step back and answer this question, “Why should your website should rank above all others in your field?” Give customers a reason to visit, return and buy. Be the expert. Provide a useful tool. Entertain. Don’t forget that branding and design matter.

Next, think about how your customers search and the terms they use. Keyword research is a critical step in the SEO process. Brainstorm. Survey your customers. Take advantage of online tools, like Wordtracker, that can provide information about specific search words. Don’t forget alternate spellings and phrasings. Analyze the competitive landscape of a search term or phrase to see how easy, or difficult, it will be to rank for a particular term. The SEOmoz KW Difficulty Tool can help you determine which would rank higher, “SEO” or “Search Engine Optimization?”

Then test…and test again.

Rule #2—Rank High

In addition to relevance, search engines rank results by their popularity. For Google, that measure is called PageRank. Basically, each link to a page on your site from another site adds to your site's ranking. Not all links are created equal, however. Quality of content matters. Links from other highly-ranking websites count for more than lower-ranking sites or spam links.

All things considered, your SEO efforts should aim at getting you the highest PageRank you can. To do this, you need to get as many inbound links from as many high PageRank web pages as possible. Quality matters. And often takes time.

Rule #3—Prepare to study up or find a good SEO partner

In order for your site to rank well in search results pages, it's important to make sure that Google can crawl and index your site correctly. The territory is technical and, if done improperly, can actually damage your website’s ranking.

A good partner will help you

Review site content and structure
Provide technical direction on website development
Research keywords
Develop content and optimize how it’s written
Provide SEO training
And more

There are lots of online resources to get you started. Here are a few:

Google SEO Starter Guide
SEOmoz’s Beginner’s Guide to Search Engine Optimization is helpful even for the experienced
Search Engine Land

A few caveats

The best time to optimize is right from the start, when you you’re planning to launch a new site or when you’re planning a redesign.

SEO isn’t always the right strategy for every website depending on your objectives. Building high quality, relevant web pages that engage your target audience and persuade them to act is. Remember, customers first! Set objectives for your web and determine the appropriate measures of success. Clicks don’t matter, quality leads may. Or conversion to sales. Find the right metric. Measure it. Revise and update your strategies and your web pages to meet your goals.

If you already have a high ranking website, be careful to preserve your rankings when you change pages or move to a new site. Your SEO partner will help you (with a 301 redirect) to pass on the page rank from your old to the new.

Avoid SEO experts who promise a #1 ranking. It can’t be done! And beware of what are known as “Black Hat” techniques, also called spamdexing. Search engine operators are aware of these deceptive tactics and the penalties in your web ranking can be severe and even result in having your listing removed.

SEO isn’t a set it and forget it kind of thing. If you rely heavily on search engine traffic, remember, there are no guarantees. Search engines periodically change their algorithms, how they analyze and rank web pages. Take a big picture view and make your overall marketing efforts less vulnerable to these vagarities. Look at creating your own inbound marketing system, including e-mail, social media and blogs, among others, to help you find more of the right prospects and convert them into customers.

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*Google calls its web spider Googlebot. Yahoo refers to its version as WebCrawler. MicrosoftBot for you know who. These bots are frenetically busy. Currently the Official Google Blog claims that they have indexed more than 1 trillion. Of course, no search engine has indexed them all.

Strategy First, Tweets Second

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Hydzik) — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:05:00 +0000

Twitter is a stupid waste of time. Twitter is the stuff of genius. Where you fall on that spectrum often has more to do with how you see this important social medium strategically than how knowledgeable you are about the ins-and-outs of Twitter. Or any social medium, for that matter.

Those who contribute to the social media landscape write often and extensively on the HOW—tactics. Less so on the WHY—strategy.

Not that hows are bad, especially as social marketing is so young. They help you visualize what’s possible. Check out “50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Business” published by Chris Brogan last August and see how businesses are beginning to use Twitter.

Ultimately though, hows are just a tactical laundry list.

You might do this. Or you might do that. Sure you might, but every business is different. Why a particular approach is right for your business. Or not. That’s the key.

If you’ve begun to explore social communities, like Twitter, but haven’t been able see real benefits, don’t blame the medium. More than likely, you haven’t strategically connected your objectives to your audience and the medium. Without that connection, you really can’t answer a very basic question, “Is Twitter right for my business?” Just using the latest cool platforms isn’t enough. Especially in this economy. Results matter.

Not familiar with Twitter?
Twitter is a social networking website founded in March of 2006. It defines itself as, “a service for friends, family, and co-workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?”

Twitter users communicate online (and via mobile web, mobile phone and instant message) by sending and receiving short 140 character messages, called updates or tweets. These updates appear on the user’s profile page and are delivered to others who sign up to receive them. Members can also restrict message delivery to those in their community circle, if they wish.

See for yourself at www.twitter.com/help/how. Click and watch the short video.

Just a moment…make a plan
In the rush to go social, otherwise smart businesses may get ahead of themselves when they tweet first and think strategy second. Successful marketing has a strategic hierarchy. My clients, co-workers and grad students all know this. And I’ll admit to being something of a stickler here. Not because I like stickling (or hierarchies, for that matter). But because the model is simple and it works.

Objectives
▼
Strategies
▼
Tactics

Objectives set the goal and define how your success will be measured.

Strategies are the directions you take to achieve your goals.

Tactics are the tools you use and how you use them.

When you start at the hierarchy’s bottom, it’s easy to get seduced by a tactic and jump off on the wrong track. Then how will you measure success? Likely you’ll be disappointed. On the other hand, if you start at the top, with objectives, you clearly outline the path you need to take. Then you can make informed decisions that link your brand with your customers and the communities they create and share. And, based on how well you achieve your objectives, you can determine your success.

By the way, if strategic thinking is hard for you, take comfort in being in good company. Make a plan using these five steps.

1. Start with your audience
As with all things brand marketing, begin with your customers. You walk the customer-centric walk, don’t you? The Forrester Social Brand Strategy study, just released December 17, had this to say about social networking (order the full study if you like, but the executive summary tells the tale).

“…companies must understand who their target is, how that target seeks to engage, and the role that distinct social media channels play in their brand experience.”

Where does your brand come in contact with your target audience? Your customers probably tweet, media mavens say more than a million people do. You recognize that your audience has important things to say about your brand and you want your brand to be part of that conversation. Not to direct it. But to be part of the give-and-take that defines conversations. So how do you join a conversation that’s already taking place?

You start by listening, not talking. Use TwitterSearch as your ears.

See what’s being said. See how the medium is being used. Identify the influencers and the followers. Think about the roles your brand can play in the conversation. Yes, roles. Plural. Don’t stop with customers. What about employees? Strategic partners and vendors? Channel partners?

2. Set your objectives and strategies
What can you do in 140 characters? Quite a lot, actually. Look at just a few possibilities.

Enhance brand loyalty
A community provides a sense of place and a means to increase customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. A Deloitte and Beeline Labs study, "2008 Tribalization of Business Survey," researched 140 organizations with communities and found that nearly ¼ of them had already seen increased loyalty. This is especially impressive when you consider the majority had been around two years or less. One of the study’s major takeaways, “Communities can increase revenue per customer dramatically, i.e., 50%.” Who’s doing this? How about Southwest Air (7,609 followers at the time this blog is being written) and Whole Foods (13,910)?

Establish your leadership position
If your business is news, or you deliver useful and newsworthy information, social networking may be made for you. Marketing. Public relations. Or network news. CNN Breaking News has 70,988 followers who stay informed—and who also participate in the news through commentary and the sharing of ideas. Next time a story that he reports intrigues you, send a Twitter message to @RickSanchez (41,531 followers). Who knows? Your tweet might just appear on air because, according to CNN, “Rick’s newscast is…YOUR newscast!” Who else in the media is on Twitter. Have a look at just a few: http://mediaontwitter.pbwiki.com/United+States+-+NATIONAL

Generate better ideas to generate better products
Involve your customers in your products and gain the benefits of thousands of outside thinkers. Shorten your design cycles and go to market faster with better products—designed by the people who buy them.

According to Vovici, December 15, 2008, My Starbucks Idea generated—and prioritized—55,000 ideas. OK, this one’s not on Twitter, but it’s the result of a thriving and active community. On Twitter, in its first 18 months, Dell IdeaStorm (244 followers) generated over 10,000 ideas. What could your business do with a great customer-centric idea?

Increase sales
Sure. Will a million bucks do? According to ZK of WebTrafficROI.com, December 26, 2008, and a Dell Outlet tweet December 19, 2008 (3:07 pm), Dell produced that amount in an 8 month period through sales alerts. People sign up to follow the DellOutlet receive messages, or tweets, alerting them to product discounts. DellOutlet has 3,452 followers and has expanded to multiple Twitter accounts, including DellHomeOffers (595), DellSmallBizOffers (475), DellSmallBiz (415), TeamDell (293), StudioDell (201), and DellintheClouds (165), among Dell’s 65 Twitter accounts.

3. Develop tactics that reflect your strategic plan
Go back and dig out your tactical laundry list. Use your knowledge of your customer, and your brand, coupled with your objectives and strategies to cull through the tactics to see where there’s a fit.

Don’t copy. Be creative. Who knew you could have an online wine tasting in real time? You can with TwitterTasteLive.

Develop a voice. Are you the authority? Then be authoritative. Are you all about entertainment? Then be entertaining. Are you creative? Then be amazing. Every time. Be real and human. Be open to suggestions and criticism. Remember, its your customers you’re conversing with. They know something about your brand and your products.

4. Now tweet!
...and tweet with confidence, because you’ve considered your audience and connected your brand objectives and understand how you can utilize the medium to achieve the results you want.

5. Measure your results and refine…then repeat
Your job as a marketer doesn’t end once you launch. Track results. Improve your tactics. Then repeat the circle again. What do you measure?...why the metrics that most closely describe your objective, of course.

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Be more creative...do something different

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Hydzik) — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:11:00 +0000

A light snow got me thinking about creativity today. If every snowflake is unique, then people who live by their creativity—and everyone else who uses their brain for a living—should be different every day as well.

In countless brainstorm sessions I’ve led, one sure way to energize rusty brain cells and bump them out of their rut is to invite the team to put themselves in a fresh frame of mind. Try this yourself on the way into the office tomorrow.

Do something different.

If fact, do several things different. If you take public transportation, then walk or ride your bike. If you must drive, then take a different route. If you’ve got a choice, take the more fuel efficient car…“Honey, I’m taking the hybrid today…please.” Go the wrong way if you have time. Get up 15 minutes earlier and make the time.

Work downtown? Cut through a different building. Eat breakfast if you never do. Eat lunch someplace brand new. Cut them some slack and enjoy the way the servers are learning their way around a new menu and a new system.

Listen to a different radio station. Or borrow someone else’s iPod. Ask first! Put away your laptop and Blackberry and read a newspaper. Read a book by a friend’s favorite author. Take your camera along...and take a picure. Shovel your neighbor’s walk before you shovel your own. Switch from coffee to tea, diet to water, red wine to white. Kiss your sweetheart with your eyes open instead of closed.

Doesn’t matter what you do that’s different. The idea is to break your routine. Form new connections in your brain. Open yourself to the unexpected. Tune your brain to be that much more responsive to new concepts.

Who knows, you might find that you like hip hop. Or free jazz. Or opera, for that matter. You might discover a new short cut. Or reconnect with a fabulous architectural inspiration, as I did recently when I cut through the lobby of Chicago’s Rookery Building.

By the way, doing things different is habit forming.

Photo: (c)2003 Paul J. Hydzik ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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